Tose (company)

Tose Co., Ltd. (also called Tose Software) is a Japanese video game developer based in Kyoto. It is mostly known for developing Nintendo's Game & Watch Gallery series, various Dragon Ball games, as well as contract work or assistance to other developers. Tose has developed or co-developed thousands of games since the company's inception in 1979, but is virtually never credited in the games themselves. It is considered the largest non-publishing game developer in the world.

Tose maintains a policy of having no creative input in the games it works on, going so far as to refuse to put the studio's name in the credits and employees using pseudonyms. As such, Tose has gained a reputation for being a "ghost developer." Representatives of the company have described it as a "ninja developer," because it works in the shadows, as well as the "unsung hero" of the video game industry. When talking to the press, representatives of the company ask not to be identified by name. Exceptions to this include Game & Watch Gallery 4 and The Legendary Starfy series, as Tose shares the copyright with Nintendo. Tose has also received development credit for Sega Casino, Dragon Quest Monsters Joker 3 Professional, Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime, and World of Final Fantasy, and co-development on Scarlet Nexus with Bandai Namco and Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion with Square Enix.

The company provides services for game design, plot design, sound composition, programming, and more. It also does non-games work, developing software for the web, mobile apps, pachinko machines, and even appliances, like refrigerators.