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160-627: They have a partnership with Universal Music Group called U5 , which releases approximately 50 digital compilation albums per month. In 2013, X5 was named one of the Red Herring "Top 100 Most Innovative Companies in Europe . In June 2016, X5 was acquired by Warner Music Group . X5 Music Group was founded in Stockholm , Sweden in 2003 by Johan Lagerlöf , Daniel Bäckström, and Stefan Enberg. All three founders had pre-existing connections in

320-518: A Sony -led consortium for $ 2.2 billion. Among the other companies that had competed for the recorded music business was Warner Music Group which was reported to have made a $ 2 billion bid. IMPALA opposed the merger. In March 2012, the European Union opened an investigation into the acquisition The EU asked rivals and consumer groups whether the deal would result in higher prices and shut out competitors. On September 21, 2012,

480-400: A mobile spin-off in 2017. Other spin-offs have taken the form of subseries— Compilation of Final Fantasy VII , Ivalice Alliance , and Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy . In 2022, Square Enix released an action-role playing title Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin developed in collaboration with Team Ninja , which takes place in an alternate, reimagined reality based on

640-532: A radio drama , and Final Fantasy: Unlimited has received a radio drama sequel. A trading card game named Final Fantasy Trading Card Game is produced by Square Enix and Hobby Japan , first released Japan in 2012 with an English version in 2016. The game has been compared to Magic: the Gathering , and a tournament circuit for the game also takes place. Although most Final Fantasy installments are independent, many gameplay elements recur throughout

800-433: A 2008 public poll held by The Game Group plc , Final Fantasy was voted the best game series, with five games appearing in their "Greatest Games of All Time" list. Many Final Fantasy games have been included in various lists of top games. Several games have been listed on multiple IGN "Top Games" lists. Twelve games were listed on Famitsu 's 2006 "Top 100 Favorite Games of All Time", four of which were in

960-487: A Single Day" ( Final Fantasy X ). The 2009 edition listed two games from the series among the top 50 consoles games: Final Fantasy XII at number 8 and VII at number 20. In 2018, Final Fantasy VII was inducted as a member of the World Video Game Hall of Fame . However, the series has garnered some criticism. IGN has commented that the menu system used by the games is a major detractor for many and

1120-506: A United States audience, and Final Fantasy Tactics is a tactical RPG that features many references and themes found in the series. The spin-off Chocobo series, Crystal Chronicles series, and Kingdom Hearts series also include multiple Final Fantasy elements. In 2003, the Final Fantasy series' first sub-sequel, Final Fantasy X-2 , was released. Final Fantasy XIII was originally intended to stand on its own, but

1280-682: A base for entire structures. The first five games were directed by Sakaguchi, who also provided the original concepts. He drew inspiration for game elements from anime films by Hayao Miyazaki ; series staples like the airships and chocobos are inspired by elements in Castle in the Sky and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind , respectively. Sakaguchi served as a producer for subsequent games until he left Square in 2001. Yoshinori Kitase took over directing

1440-514: A feature length direct-to-DVD CGI film, and Last Order: Final Fantasy VII , a non-canon OVA, were released as part of the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII . Advent Children was animated by Visual Works, which helped the company create CG sequences for the games. The film, unlike The Spirits Within , became a commercial success. Last Order , on the other hand, was released in Japan in

1600-476: A former wife of Tom Petty that seeks class action status for artists whose master recordings were believed to have been destroyed in the Universal Studios fire. On December 9, 2011, Megaupload published a music video titled: "The Mega Song", showing artists including Kanye West , Snoop Dogg , Alicia Keys and will.i.am endorsing the company. The music video was also uploaded to YouTube, but

1760-535: A fully active battle scenario, allowing for free range attacks and movement, giving a much more fluid feel of combat. This system also incorporates a "Tactical" Option during battle, which pauses active battle to allow use of items. Like most RPGs, the Final Fantasy installments use an experience level system for character advancement, in which experience points are accumulated by killing enemies. Character classes , specific jobs that enable unique abilities for characters, are another recurring theme. Introduced in

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1920-758: A global partnership agreement with UMG across recorded music, music publishing, brand management, and licensing rights. On November 19, 2018, singer-songwriter Taylor Swift signed a new multi-album deal with UMG, in the United States, her future releases will be promoted under the Republic Records imprint. In addition to the promised ownership of her master recordings, UMG agreed to, in case it sells portions of its stake in Spotify , distribute proceeds among its artists and make them non-recoupable. In December 2018, Queen's " Bohemian Rhapsody " became

2080-508: A global, multi-year agreement with Facebook becoming the first of The " Big Three " to license its recorded music and publishing catalogs for video and other social experiences across Facebook , Instagram and Oculus . Sony and Warner signed similar contracts with Facebook the following year. Furthermore, on December 19, 2017, UMG signed a multi-year licensing agreement with YouTube . In June 2018, Universal Music Japan announced an exclusive license agreement with Disney Music Group . With

2240-416: A group of characters battling an evil, and sometimes ancient, antagonist that dominates the game's world. Stories frequently involve a sovereign state in rebellion, with the protagonists taking part in the rebellion. The heroes are often destined to defeat the evil, and occasionally gather as a direct result of the antagonist's malicious actions. Another staple of the series is the existence of two villains;

2400-492: A manga, and Final Fantasy XI had a novel and manga set in its continuity. Seven novellas based on the Final Fantasy VII universe have also been released. The Final Fantasy: Unlimited story was partially continued in novels and a manga after the anime series ended. The Final Fantasy X and XIII series have also had novellas and audio dramas released. Final Fantasy Tactics Advance has been adapted into

2560-675: A means of long-distance travel for characters. Moogles are white, stout creatures resembling teddy bears with wings and a single antenna. They serve different roles in games including mail delivery, weaponsmiths , party members, and saving the game . Cactuars are anthropomorphic cacti with haniwa -like faces presented in a running or dashing pose. They usually appear as recurring enemy units, and also as summoned allies or friendly non-player characters in certain titles. Chocobo and Moogle appearances are often accompanied by specific musical themes that have been arranged differently for separate games. In Final Fantasy games, players command

2720-406: A mix of live-action scenes and Final Fantasy XIV gameplay footage. As of June 2019, Sony Pictures Television is working on a live-action adaptation of the series with Hivemind and Square Enix. Jason F. Brown, Sean Daniel and Dinesh Shamdasani for Hivemind are the producers while Ben Lustig and Jake Thornton were attached as writers and executive producers for the series. Several video games in

2880-403: A more dynamic look; the game features full 3D environments, rather than having 3D character models move about pre-rendered backgrounds. It is also the first Final Fantasy game to feature voice acting , occurring throughout the majority of the game, even with many minor characters. This aspect added a whole new dimension of depth to the character's reactions, emotions, and development. Taking

3040-493: A new fantasy role-playing game for the cartridge-based NES, and drew inspiration from popular fantasy games: Enix 's Dragon Quest , Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda , and Origin Systems 's Ultima series . Though often attributed to the company allegedly facing bankruptcy, Sakaguchi explained that the game was his personal last-ditch effort in the game industry and that its title, Final Fantasy , stemmed from his feelings at

3200-469: A new in-car audio collaboration with Apple Music and Universal Music Group. With this new audio standard, UMG allows its artists to base their song approval process on how the final mix sounds in a Mercedes‑Benz and introduced the "Approved in a Mercedes‑Benz" label as a standard. In November 2022, Universal Music Group acquired a 49% stake in Play It Again Sam (PIAS Group), which brings together

3360-456: A new multi-year licensing agreement with Spotify In June 2021, Pershing Square Tontine Holdings , a special-purpose acquisition company run by investor Bill Ackman, announced it would acquire 10 percent of UMG before it went public, in a $ 4 billion transaction. The deal collapsed in July 2021 due to regulatory concerns, and it was announced that Ackman's Pershing Square Holdings would complete

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3520-817: A new multi-year licensing agreement with Spotify , the world's leading streaming service, and in May 2017, UMG signed a deal with Tencent , China's biggest gaming and social media firm. In July 2017, " Despacito " by Luis Fonsi , Daddy Yankee and featuring Justin Bieber , became the most streamed track of all time. By 2018, the song had broken several Guinness World Records , including Most Weeks at Number 1 on Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart and most-viewed video online. In August 2017, UMG and Grace/Beyond agreed to develop three new music-based television series, 27 , Melody Island and Mixtape . 27 would focus on musicians at

3680-578: A new setting, a new cast of characters, and an upgraded battle system. Video game writer John Harris attributed the concept of reworking the game system of each installment to Nihon Falcom 's Dragon Slayer series, with which Square was previously involved as a publisher. The company regularly released new games in the main series, but the time between the releases of XI (2002), XII (2006), and XIII (2009) were much longer than previous games. Following Final Fantasy XIV , Square Enix released Final Fantasy games either annually or biennially. This switch

3840-470: A party of characters as they progress through the game's story by exploring the game world and defeating enemies. Enemies are typically encountered randomly through exploring, a trend which changed in Final Fantasy XI and XII . The player issues combat orders—like "Fight", "Magic", and "Item"—to individual characters via a menu-driven interface while engaging in battles. Throughout the series,

4000-419: A result of the fire. Representatives for R.E.M. announced they would investigate the effects the fire may have had on the band's archival materials, while Hole , Steely Dan , Rosanne Cash and Geoff Downes made statements on their possible losses from the fire. A representative for Eminem confirmed that the rapper's master recordings were digitized months before the fire, but could not confirm whether

4160-538: A scientist or engineer, and being tied in some way to an airship the party eventually acquires. Every Cid has at least one of these two traits. Biggs and Wedge , inspired by two Star Wars characters of the same name, appear in numerous games as minor characters, sometimes as comic relief. The later games in the series feature several males with effeminate characteristics. Recurring creatures include Chocobos , Moogles , and Cactuars . Chocobos are large, often flightless birds that appear in several installments as

4320-429: A second installment. Because Sakaguchi assumed Final Fantasy would be a stand-alone game, its story was not designed to be expanded by a sequel. The developers instead chose to carry over only thematic similarities from its predecessor, while some of the gameplay elements, such as the character advancement system, were overhauled. This approach has continued throughout the series; each major Final Fantasy game features

4480-614: A series of independent labels. In January 2023, Sherry Lansing was named the Chairman of Board of Directors of the Universal Music Group. In August 2023, it was announced UMG had acquired the UAE -based music marketing, digital publishing and distribution agency, Chabaka. In 2023, Universal Music Group and Deezer announced their initiative to explore potential new business models for music streaming that better recognize

4640-474: A similar settlement was entered into with music publishers and distributors Sony Music , Warner Music , Bertelsmann Music Group , EMI Music and Universal Music Group and certain retailers, without admission of liability or wrongdoing, with various states. In settlement of the claim, the companies collectively agreed to pay a $ 67.4 million fine and distribute $ 75.7 million in CDs to public and non-profit groups. It

4800-545: A special DVD bundle package with Advent Children . Last Order sold out quickly and was positively received by Western critics, though fan reaction was mixed over changes to established story scenes. Two animated tie-ins for Final Fantasy XV were released as part of a larger multimedia project dubbed the Final Fantasy XV Universe. Brotherhood is a series of five 10-to-20-minute-long episodes developed by A-1 Pictures and Square Enix detailing

4960-551: A story unrelated to previous games, so the numbers refer to volumes rather than to sequels. Many Final Fantasy games have been localized for markets in North America, Europe, and Australia on numerous video game consoles , personal computers (PC), and mobile phones . As of June 2023, the series includes the main installments from Final Fantasy to Final Fantasy XVI , as well as direct sequels and spin-offs , both released and confirmed as being in development. Most of

X5 Music Group - Misplaced Pages Continue

5120-654: A temporary divergence, Final Fantasy XI used the PlayStation 2's online capabilities as an MMORPG. Initially released for the PlayStation 2 with a PC port arriving six months later, XI was also released on the Xbox 360 nearly four years after its original release in Japan. This was the first Final Fantasy game to use a free rotating camera. Final Fantasy XII was released in 2006 for the PlayStation 2 and uses only half as many polygons as Final Fantasy X , in exchange for more advanced textures and lighting. It also retains

5280-513: A valuation of €46 billion. As of April 2024, UMG's catalogue includes over 3 million recordings and 4 million compositions. As of November 2024, UMG is facing accusations of violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act ; and using deceptive business practices and false advertising under New York state law, to illegally inflate music streams using bots, payola and other methods. The company's origins go back to

5440-471: A victory fanfare , a theme that has become one of the most recognized pieces of music in the series. The basic theme that accompanies Chocobo appearances has been rearranged in a different musical style for most installments. Recurring secret bosses such as Gilgamesh are also used as opportunities to revive their musical themes. A theme known as the "Final Fantasy Main Theme" or " March ", originally featured in

5600-512: A worldwide basis. The exclusive deal also saw UMG granted unlimited access to all rights pertaining to Disney's 85-year back catalog of soundtracks and albums. On April 2, 2013, the gospel music divisions of Motown Records and EMI merged to form a new label called Motown Gospel. In May 2013, Japanese company SoftBank offered $ 8.5 billion to Vivendi for the acquisition of UMG, but Vivendi rejected it. In July 2018, JPMorgan said that UMG could be worth as much as $ 40 billion and then increased

5760-594: A year, and remained in the iTunes Classical Top 10 for over three years, selling more than 200,000 copies. X5 expanded into the United States in 2009, setting up an office in the Empire State Building in Manhattan, New York . Former Amazon and eMusic music executive Scott Ambrose Reilly was hired as North American CEO. Noelle Bell was also hired as an account manager. X5 continued to expand its catalog of compilations, and in 2010 had 13 titles on

5920-432: Is a "significant reason why they haven't touched the series". The site has also heavily criticized the use of random encounters in the series' battle systems. IGN further stated that the various attempts to bring the series into film and animation have either been unsuccessful, unremarkable, or did not live up to the standards of the games. In 2007, Edge criticized the series for a number of related games that include

6080-862: Is also headquartered in Hollywood. Universal Music Group operates a secondary office in Woodland Hills that includes finance, royalty, and operations functions. Universal Music Latin Entertainment is headquartered in Miami, Florida . Universal Music Group Nashville is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee . UMG has offices in New York City where Island Records , Def Jam Recordings , Republic Records , Verve Label Group , and Spinefarm Records are headquartered. Universal Music Spain

6240-596: Is also the first in the main series to utilize a world used in a previous game, namely the land of Ivalice , which was previously featured in Final Fantasy Tactics and Vagrant Story . In 2009, Final Fantasy XIII was released in Japan, and in North America and Europe the following year, for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It is the flagship installment of the Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy series and became

6400-554: Is another common RPG element in the series. The method by which characters gain magic varies between installments, but is generally divided into classes organized by color: "White magic", which focuses on spells that assist teammates; "Black magic", which focuses on harming enemies; "Red magic", which is a combination of white and black magic, "Blue magic", which mimics enemy attacks; and "Green magic" which focuses on applying status effects to either allies or enemies. Other types of magic frequently appear such as "Time magic", focusing on

6560-640: Is based in Madrid , Spain. Universal Music Group Global (formerly known as Universal Music Group International (UMGI) ) operates offices in London. Universal Music GmbH, the German subsidiary, is headquartered in Berlin . It moved in 2002 from Hamburg to the district Friedrichshain at the river Spree . In February 2024 the company moved out of the iconic building also called "Eierspeicher" into another office down

X5 Music Group - Misplaced Pages Continue

6720-598: Is expected to be of $ 3.36 billion. In February 2020, Vivendi announced it was planning to go public in an IPO within three years. On June 16, 2020, Universal rebranded Virgin EMI Records as EMI Records and named Rebecca Allen (former president of UMG's Decca label) as the label's president, bringing back the EMI brand. The same day, UMG announced launch of its new affiliates in Morocco and Israel. In July 2020, UMG signed

6880-464: Is mostly an anthology series with primary installments being stand-alone role-playing games, each with different settings, plots and main characters, but the franchise is linked by several recurring elements, including game mechanics and recurring character names. Each plot centers on a particular group of heroes who are battling a great evil, but also explores the characters' internal struggles and relationships. Character names are frequently derived from

7040-638: Is over a third bigger than initial valuation. In January 2022, UMG (through INgrooves ) acquired the Icelandic record label Alda Music, which owned the rights to nearly 80 percent of all music released in Iceland. In February 2022, Universal Music Group announced a partnership with Curio, an NFT platform, to create NFT collections for its record labels and artists. On May 31, 2022, Universal Music Group announced Baa1/BBB long-term credit ratings from Moody's and S&P. In October 2022, Mercedes-Benz launched

7200-415: Is well known for its innovation, visuals, such as the inclusion of full-motion videos and photorealistic character models, and music by Nobuo Uematsu . It has popularized many features now common in role-playing games, also popularizing the genre as a whole in markets outside Japan . The first installment of the series was released in Japan on December 18, 1987. Subsequent games are numbered and given

7360-633: The 50 Greatest series, adding The 50 Greatest Violin Pieces by Joshua Bell , The 50 Greatest Piano Pieces by Lang Lang and The 50 Greatest Performances of Classical Music . Later releases focused on jazz and blues, including artists such as Miles Davis , John Coltrane , and Thelonious Monk . X5 also partners with Universal Music on the Spinnup distribution platform for unsigned artists. In April 2013 The New York Times stated that "X5’s techniques are now widely imitated, and its profit margins are

7520-553: The Gaia hypothesis , an apocalypse, and conflicts between advanced technology and nature . The series features a number of recurring character archetypes. Most famously, every game since Final Fantasy II , including subsequent remakes of the original Final Fantasy , features a character named Cid . Cid's appearance, personality, goals, and role in the game (non-playable ally, party member, villain) vary dramatically, but two characteristics many versions of Cid have in common are being

7680-573: The London Philharmonic Orchestra and produced by Andrew Skeet . The twenty-one track set features classical orchestrations of video game themes such as Super Mario Bros. , Call of Duty , Final Fantasy , World of Warcraft , and Angry Birds . It debuted at #23 on the Billboard 200 - the highest debut for an orchestral release since 2005's Star Wars Episode III soundtrack . It received praise from IGN and

7840-454: The London Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of David Parry , with soloists such as pianist Finghin Collins . According to Allmusic , "While the term 'greatest' may be debatable in the instance of some of the pieces, 'popular' is a description that's easier to support, for there's no denying the staying power of these pieces." It was #1 on iTunes ' Classical Albums chart for over

8000-714: The PlayStation 2 . Final Fantasy X (2001) introduced full 3D areas and voice acting to the series, and was the first to spawn a sub-sequel ( Final Fantasy X-2 , published in 2003). The first massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) in the series, Final Fantasy XI , was released on the PS2 and PC in 2002, and later on the Xbox 360 . It introduced real-time battles instead of random encounters . Final Fantasy XII , published in 2006, also includes real-time battles in large, interconnected playfields. The game

8160-513: The PlayStation 3 as well, in 2013. Final Fantasy XV is an action role-playing game that was released for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2016. Originally a XIII spin-off titled Versus XIII , XV uses the mythos of the Fabula Nova Crystallis series, although in many other respects the game stands on its own and has since been distanced from the series by its developers. The sixteenth mainline entry, Final Fantasy XVI ,

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8320-551: The Welk Music Group , also commissioning its own recordings. X5 announced in April 2013 that it had started U5 , a joint venture with the music conglomerate Universal Music Group . It gave X5 access to over 50,000 of Universal's classical tracks, and another 50,000 jazz and blues songs. U5 produces digital compilation albums, curating and releasing more than 50 per month. The first slate of releases included expansions to

8480-473: The roleplaying gamebook series of the same name , they needed to settle for something else. As the English word "Final" was well known in Japan, Sakaguchi settled on that. According to Sakaguchi, any title that created the " FF " abbreviation would have done. The game indeed reversed Square's lagging fortunes, and it became the company's flagship franchise. Following the success, Square immediately developed

8640-463: The two-dimensional (2D) graphics used in the first six games to three-dimensional (3D) computer graphics ; the game features polygonal characters on pre-rendered backgrounds. It also introduced a more modern setting, a style that was carried over to the next game. It was also the second in the series to be released in Europe, with the first being Final Fantasy Mystic Quest . Final Fantasy VIII

8800-483: The " Active Time Battle " system. Final Fantasy V , released in 1992 in Japan, was the first game in the series to spawn a sequel: a short anime series, Final Fantasy: Legend of the Crystals . Final Fantasy VI was released in Japan in 1994, titled Final Fantasy III in North America. The PlayStation console saw the release of three main Final Fantasy games. Final Fantasy VII (1997) moved away from

8960-497: The "Active Dimension Battle" system. Final Fantasy XIII ' s combat system, designed by the same man who worked on X , was meant to have an action-oriented feel, emulating the cinematic battles in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children . Final Fantasy XV introduces a new "Open Combat" system. Unlike previous battle systems in the franchise, the "Open Combat" system (OCS) allows players to take on

9120-487: The "Annenberg Inclusion Initiative", becoming the first music company to do so. The initiative is meant to create change for representation of women and underrepresented racial and ethnic groups in the media industry. In December 2017, Universal Music Group acquired Stiff and ZTT labels, along with Perfect Songs Publishing, from Trevor Horn 's SPZ Group; BMG Rights Management , through Union Square Music subsidiary, retained its back catalogues. That same month, UMG signed

9280-714: The 'ethical use' of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Also in October 2023, UMG formed a new partnership with BMG Rights Management to develop collaborative initiatives to enlarge opportunities for BMG-signed artists all over the world. Unable to reach a licensing agreement with TikTok, UMG removed its music from the platform in January 2024, During UMG's fourth-quarter earnings call on February 29, Grainge said: "There must not be free rides for massive global platforms such as TikTok." The company reported that quarterly revenue rose 9 percent, to 3.2 billion euros ($ 3.5 billion). Following

9440-531: The Beatles (formerly of Parlophone) and Robbie Williams (formerly of Chrysalis). The Beatles catalogue was transferred to UMG's newly formed Calderstone Productions , while Williams' catalogue was transferred to Island Records . Universal Music Group completed their acquisition of EMI on September 28, 2012. In November 2012, Steve Barnett was appointed chairman and CEO of Capitol Music Group . He formerly served as COO of Columbia Records . In compliance

9600-972: The Billboard Year End Top 50, tying for the top spot with Universal Music Group . In August 2011 The 99 Most Essential Chopin Masterpieces was ranked No. 1 on Amazon MP3 's classical bestsellers chart. The compilation stayed among the chart's top 100 for 20 months. In 2011 X5 was the No. 2 classical music label on the US charts, second only to Universal. Also in 2011 the label began branching into genres such as folk , bluegrass , blues , and jazz . They began forming partnerships with non-classical labels such as Sun Records , whose back catalog included artists such as Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis . In November 2011 X5 released one of its most successful albums, The Greatest Video Game Music, performed by

9760-441: The Crystals , a sequel to Final Fantasy V . The story was set in the same world as the game, although 200 years in the future. It was released as four 30-minute episodes, first in Japan in 1994 and later in the United States by Urban Vision in 1998. In 2001, Square Pictures released its first feature film, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within . The film is set on a future Earth invaded by alien life forms. The Spirits Within

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9920-659: The Greek market, as part of its divesture plans, Universal Music retained Minos EMI and sold Universal Music Greece to Greek investors who renamed it Cobalt Music. Edel AG acquired the MPS catalogue from Universal in January 2014. On March 20, 2013, UMG announced the worldwide extension of their exclusive distribution deal with the Disney Music Group , excluding Japan. As a result of this deal DMG's labels and artists have access to UMG's roster of producers and songwriters on

10080-523: The Japanese release of Dirge of Cerberus from Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu hinted at a controversy between the magazine and Square Enix. Though Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within was praised for its visuals, the plot was criticized and the film was considered a box office bomb. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles for the GameCube received overall positive review scores, but reviews stated that

10240-483: The NES installments, Final Fantasy III , was released in Japan in 1990, but was not released elsewhere until a Nintendo DS remake came out in 2006. The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) also featured three installments of the main series, all of which have been re-released on several platforms. Final Fantasy IV was released in 1991; in North America, it was released as Final Fantasy II . It introduced

10400-541: The Nintendo 64, for seven years. Critics attribute the switch of strong third-party games like the Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest games to Sony's PlayStation, and away from the Nintendo 64, as one of the reasons behind PlayStation being the more successful of the two consoles. The release of the Nintendo GameCube, which used optical disc media, in 2001 caught the attention of Square. To produce games for

10560-872: The Philippines and more. Company's legal headquarters are in the Netherlands. Universal Music Group's largest corporate shareholder, Tencent , is headquartered in Shenzhen , China. Tencent's ultimate largest controlling corporate shareholder, Naspers , is headquartered in Cape Town , South Africa. On March 8, 2022, UMG suspended all its operations in Russia , following the country's invasion of Ukraine . In 2023, UMG announced its expansion with its new office in Casablanca , Morocco. As of January 2022,

10720-631: The Top 10 artists, including all of the top five, as well as all of the top eight artists ranked by on-demand audio streams. In August 2018, UMG announced a strategic expansion in Africa, opening an office in Abidjan to oversee French-speaking Africa, and also unveiling a Universal Music Nigeria office in Lagos to focus on signing local artists and taking them global. In September 2018, singer Elton John signed

10880-492: The acquisition was completed on June 25, 2007. In June 2007, UMG acquired Sanctuary, which eventually became UMG's entertainment merchandising and brand management division, Bravado. In 2008, Universal Music Group agreed to make its catalog available to Spotify , then a new streaming service, for use outside the U.S. on a limited basis. Doug Morris stepped down from his position as CEO on January 1, 2011. Former chairman/CEO of Universal Music International Lucian Grainge

11040-545: The addition of Japan, UMG distributes releases from Disney Music Group globally. In July, the Rolling Stones signed a worldwide agreement with UMG covering the band's recorded music and audio-visual catalogues, archival support, global merchandising and brand management. That same month, Vivendi announced it would explore selling as much as half of Universal Music Group to one or more investors. In Nielsen's 2018 US Music Mid-Year report, UMG made history with eight of

11200-452: The age of 27, an age at which several iconic musicians died . Melody Island was an animated series based on tropical island music with live craft segments. Mixtape had twelve episodes, with each episode connected to a song. In October 2017, UMG announced the launch of its Accelerator Engagement Network, an initiative aimed to help develop music-based startups around the world. In November 2017, USC Annenberg announced UMG's partnership in

11360-517: The available resources. A different approach has been taken for subsequent games; the story is completed first and the game built around it. Designers have never been restricted by consistency, though most feel each game should have a minimum number of common elements. The development teams strive to create completely new worlds for each game, and avoid making new games too similar to previous ones. Game locations are conceptualized early in development and design details like building parts are fleshed out as

11520-455: The background, with the polygonal characters composited on top. Final Fantasy IX returned to the more stylized design of earlier games in the series, although it still maintained, and in many cases slightly upgraded, most of the graphical techniques used in the previous two games. Final Fantasy X was released on the PlayStation 2, and used the more powerful hardware to render graphics in real-time instead of using pre-rendered material to obtain

11680-629: The backstories of the main cast. Kingsglaive , a CGI film released prior to the game in Summer 2016, is set during the game's opening and follows new and secondary characters. In 2019, Square Enix released a short anime, produced by Satelight Inc , called Final Fantasy XV: Episode Ardyn – Prologue on their YouTube channel which acts as the background story for the final piece of DLC for Final Fantasy XV giving insight into Ardyn's past. Square Enix also released Final Fantasy XIV: Dad of Light in 2017, an 8-episode Japanese soap opera based, featuring

11840-428: The characters, and the main plot often recedes into the background as the focus shifts to their personal lives. Games also explore relationships between characters, ranging from love to rivalry. Other recurring situations that drive the plot include amnesia , a hero corrupted by an evil force, mistaken identity, and self-sacrifice. Magical orbs and crystals are recurring in-game items that are frequently connected to

12000-425: The company was renamed Universal Studios, Inc. , and its music division was renamed Universal Music Group; MCA Records continued as a label within the Universal Music Group. In May 1998, Seagram purchased PolyGram and merged it with Universal Music Group in early 1999. Seagram's entertainment assets were then sold to French media conglomerate Vivendi in 2000, along with UMG. In May 2004, Universal Music Group

12160-554: The company's catalog division, are headquartered in Santa Monica. Def Jam , Island and Republic Records also maintain offices there. UMG chairman & CEO Lucian Grainge is based at the company's Santa Monica offices. Universal Music Publishing is also headquartered in the city. Capitol Music Group is headquartered at the Capitol Records Building in Hollywood. Universal Music Latin Entertainment

12320-475: The company's shares were held by: In 2000, music companies including UMG entered into consent agreements with the Federal Trade Commission , with no admission of liability, whereby they agreed to discontinue the use of Minimum Advertised Price programs under which subsidized cooperative advertising was provided to retailers that agreed to adhere to minimum advertised pricing. In 2002,

12480-1524: The conditions of the European Commission after purchase of EMI, Universal Music Group sold the Mute catalogue to the German-based BMG Rights Management on December 22, 2012. Two months later, BMG acquired Sanctuary Records for €50 million ($ 58 million). On February 8, 2013, Warner Music Group acquired the Parlophone Label Group (consisting of Parlophone Records , Chrysalis Records , EMI Classics , Virgin Classics and EMI Records' Belgian, Czech, Danish, French, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Slovak and Swedish divisions) for $ 765 million (£487 million). Later in February, Sony Music Entertainment acquired UMG's European share in Now That's What I Call Music for approximately $ 60 million. Play It Again Sam acquired Co-Operative Music for £500,000 in March 2013. With EMI's absorption into Universal Music complete, its British operations consist of five label units: Island, Polydor, Decca, Virgin EMI and Capitol. In

12640-533: The court holding a trial on whether UMG had a subjective belief that the video was infringing and not fair to use before sending its request to YouTube. In April 2016, UMG had the audio muted of a video clip showing Katherine Jenkins singing the British national anthem. They claimed that the recording of " God Save the Queen " was copyrighted, and YouTube initially complied with this request, but subsequently offered

12800-491: The demo was of a new Final Fantasy game for the Nintendo 64 console. 1997 saw the release of Final Fantasy VII for the Sony PlayStation. The switch was due to a dispute with Nintendo over its use of faster but more expensive cartridges , as opposed to the slower and cheaper, but much higher capacity compact discs used on rival systems. VII introduced 3D graphics with fully pre-rendered backgrounds. It

12960-527: The disbandment of Island Def Jam Music , one of four operational umbrella groups within Universal Music. Universal CEO Lucian Grainge said of the closure, "No matter how much we might work to build 'IDJ' as a brand, that brand could never be as powerful as each of IDJ's constituent parts." Island Records and Def Jam now operate as autonomous record labels. David Massey and Bartels, who worked respectively at Island and Def Jam Records, were named to

13120-654: The earnings call, UMG began a "strategic organizational redesign" that included company-wide layoffs. Universal Music Group co-developed with Google Vevo , a site designed for music videos inspired by Hulu , which similarly allows free ad-supported streaming of videos and other music content. On May 24, 2018, Vevo announced that it would no longer continue distributing videos to Vevo.com, instead opting to primarily focus on YouTube syndication. UMG's operational headquarters are located in Santa Monica . Interscope-Geffen-A&M and Universal Music Enterprises (UME),

13280-400: The envy of any record label." At that time the company had sold over 230 million downloads internationally, and was putting out several thousand albums a year. As of summer 2013, X5 had a catalog of 8,000 albums, with about 50% of those being titles custom produced by the company. From 2009 to 2013 X5 had 24 albums on the Billboard 200 ; all 24 were custom digital releases produced by X5. X5

13440-475: The fastest-selling game in the franchise, and sold one million units on its first day of sale in Japan. Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn , in comparison to its predecessor, was a runaway success, originally suffering from servers being overcrowded, and eventually gaining over one million unique subscribers within two months of its launch. The series has received critical acclaim for the quality of its visuals and soundtracks. In 1996, Next Generation ranked

13600-459: The fire which swept through Universal Studios Hollywood on June 1, 2008, caused "the biggest disaster in the history of the music business". In space rented from NBCUniversal, according to an official document marked "Confidential", the fire destroyed at least 118,230 "assets" ( master recordings ), or about 500,000 song titles, owned by UMG. "The vault housed tape masters for Decca , the pop, jazz and classical powerhouse; it housed master tapes for

13760-502: The first game, character classes have been used differently in each game. Some restrict a character to a single job to integrate it into the story, while other games feature dynamic job systems that allow the player to choose from multiple classes and switch throughout the game. Though used heavily in many games, such systems have become less prevalent in favor of characters that are more versatile; characters still match an archetype, but are able to learn skills outside their class. Magic

13920-460: The first game, often accompanies the ending credits. Although leitmotifs are common in the more character-driven installments, theme music is typically reserved for main characters and recurring plot elements. Nobuo Uematsu was the primary composer of the Final Fantasy series until his resignation from Square Enix in November 2004. Other notable composers who have worked on main entries in

14080-976: The first games on the NES feature small sprite representations of the leading party members on the main world screen. Battle screens use more detailed, full versions of characters in a side-view perspective. This practice was used until Final Fantasy VI , which uses detailed versions for both screens. The NES sprites are 26  pixels high and use a color palette of 4 colors. 6  frames of animation are used to depict different character statuses like "healthy" and "fatigued". The SNES installments use updated graphics and effects, as well as higher quality audio than in previous games, but are otherwise similar to their predecessors in basic design. The SNES sprites are 2 pixels shorter, but have larger palettes and feature more animation frames: 11 colors and 40 frames respectively. The upgrade allowed designers to have characters be more detailed in appearance and express more emotions. The first game includes non-player characters (NPCs)

14240-505: The first mainline game to spawn two sub-sequels ( XIII-2 and Lightning Returns ). It was also the first game released in Chinese and high definition along with being released on two consoles at once. Final Fantasy XIV , a MMORPG, was released worldwide on Microsoft Windows in 2010, but it received heavy criticism when it was launched, prompting Square Enix to rerelease the game as Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn , this time to

14400-525: The formation of the American branch of Decca Records in September 1934, and its name and company logo originate from Carl Laemmle 's Universal Pictures . Although the movie studio and the music business share a common history, today the former is part of Comcast and the latter an independent commercial entity. During World War II , many record companies donated their metal masters to recycling for

14560-464: The freely rotating camera from XI . Final Fantasy XIII and XIV both make use of Crystal Tools , a middleware engine developed by Square Enix. Final Fantasy games feature a variety of music, and frequently reuse themes. Most of the games open with a piece called "Prelude", which has evolved from a simple, 2-voice arpeggio in the early games to a complex, melodic arrangement in recent installments. Victories in combat are often accompanied by

14720-406: The games have used different battle systems. Prior to Final Fantasy XI , battles were turn-based with the protagonists and antagonists on different sides of the battlefield. Final Fantasy IV introduced the "Active Time Battle" (ATB) system that augmented the turn-based nature with a perpetual time-keeping system. Designed by Hiroyuki Ito , it injected urgency and excitement into combat by requiring

14880-687: The games until Final Fantasy VIII , and has been followed by a new director for each new game. Hiroyuki Ito designed several gameplay systems, including Final Fantasy V ' s " Job System ", Final Fantasy VIII ' s " Junction System " and the Active Time Battle concept, which was used from Final Fantasy IV until IX . In designing the Active Time Battle system, Ito drew inspiration from Formula One racing; he thought it would be interesting if character types had different speeds after watching race cars pass each other. Ito also co-directed Final Fantasy VI with Kitase. Kenji Terada

15040-435: The history, languages, pop culture , and mythologies of cultures worldwide. The mechanics of each game involve similar battle systems and maps. Final Fantasy has been both critically and commercially successful. Several entries are regarded as some of the greatest video games , with the series selling more than 185 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling video game franchises of all time. The series

15200-487: The iTunes classical chart. In May 2013, X5 announced Spotify apps for world music , blues , and jazz to be released in August. In March 2015, Spotify discontinued support for apps in their players, including Classify. In its early years, X5 drew mainly from the catalogs of independent classical labels. In its first year of operations in the United States they licensed labels such as Cooking Vinyl , Alligator Records , and

15360-498: The image illustrations from Final Fantasy VII onward. Tetsuya Nomura was chosen to replace Amano because Nomura's designs were more adaptable to 3D graphics. He worked with the series from Final Fantasy VII through X , then came back for XIII , and for the basic design of XV . For Final Fantasy IX character designs were handled by Shukō Murase , Toshiyuki Itahana, and Shin Nagasawa. For Final Fantasy XV , Roberto Ferrari

15520-423: The main series adopted its current logo style that features the same typeface and an emblem designed by Japanese artist Yoshitaka Amano . The emblem relates to a game's plot and typically portrays a character or object in the story. Subsequent remakes of the first three games have replaced the previous logos with ones similar to the rest of the series. The central conflict in many Final Fantasy games focuses on

15680-415: The main villain is not always who it appears to be, as the primary antagonist may actually be subservient to another character or entity. The main antagonist introduced at the beginning of the game is not always the final enemy, and the characters must continue their quest beyond what appears to be the final fight. Stories in the series frequently emphasize the internal struggles, passions, and tragedies of

15840-671: The major Grammy Awards for the year, with Sam Smith receiving Best New Artist , Record of the Year and Song of the Year awards and Beck winning Album of the Year . In March 2016, Universal Music Canada donated the archives of EMI Music Canada to the University of Calgary . In May 2016, UMG acquired Famehouse, a digital marketing agency. That same year, Paul McCartney and the Bee Gees both signed to UMG's Capitol Records, including their catalog releases. In April 2017, UMG signed

16000-453: The most-streamed song from the pre-streaming era and the most-streamed classic rock song of all time. In February 2019, UMG fully acquired music distributor INgrooves . In June 2019, YouTube and UMG announced that they were upgrading more than 1,000 popular music videos to high definition, releasing them through 2020. In August 2019, Tencent and Vivendi started negotiation to sell 10% Vivendi's stake of Universal Music to Tencent. The deal

16160-1264: The music industry. CEO Lagerlöf, for example, had previously co-founded companies such as Mobilehits, Scandinavia 's the most popular music site, and was also a songwriter/producer for Stockholm Records . X5 was created with the mutual vision of being digital-only. Classical music was chosen as a focus; many classical compositions are in the public domain . They also gained access to the catalogs of about 50 other companies, mostly independent classical labels in Europe, and repacked them into what The Wall Street Journal called "like classical mix-tapes." X5's producers partly focus on sales data to determine what should go into compilations, paying mind to keywords and SEO . The New York Times stated "To attract classical neophytes, X5’s collections have search-engine-friendly titles and simple, self-explanatory cover art." Accordingly, compilations often have titles such as The Most Essential Classical Music for Your Baby and Classical Music for Hipsters. On May 26, 2008, X5 released The 50 Most Essential Pieces of Classical Music. The album cost about $ 150 to compile, and by April 2013 had brought in $ 3.4 million in revenue. The 50 Greatest Pieces of Classical Music compilation includes selections performed by

16320-481: The new record labels independently. Barry Weiss , who previously moved from Sony Music to lead Island Def Jam Music in 2012 when Motown Records was incorporated into Island Def Jam, stepped down from Universal Music. Additionally, as part of the changes to the labels, Motown Records transferred to Los Angeles to become part of the Capitol Music Group and previous Vice President Ethiopia Habtemariam

16480-560: The older games have been remade or re-released on multiple platforms. Three Final Fantasy installments were released on the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Final Fantasy was released in Japan in 1987 and in North America in 1990. It introduced many concepts to the console RPG genre, and has since been remade on several platforms. Final Fantasy II , released in 1988 in Japan, has been bundled with Final Fantasy in several re-releases. The last of

16640-514: The phrase " Final Fantasy " in their titles, which are considered inferior to previous games. It also commented that with the departure of Hironobu Sakaguchi , the series might be in danger of growing stale. Several individual Final Fantasy games have garnered extra attention; some for their positive reception and others for their negative reception. Final Fantasy VII topped GamePro 's "26 Best RPGs of All Time" list, as well as GameFAQs "Best Game Ever" audience polls in 2004 and 2005. Despite

16800-596: The physical master reels of his recordings were affected. UMG archivist Patrick Kraus assured that the Impulse! Records , John Coltrane , Muddy Waters , Ahmad Jamal , Nashboro Records , and Chess Records masters survived the fire and were still in Universal's archive. Howard King filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles on June 21, 2019, on behalf of Soundgarden , Hole , Steve Earle , the estate of Tupac Shakur and

16960-469: The player could interact with, but they are mostly static in-game objects. Beginning with the second game, Square used predetermined pathways for NPCs to create more dynamic scenes that include comedy and drama. In 1995, Square showed an interactive SGI technical demonstration of Final Fantasy VI for the then next generation of consoles . The demonstration used Silicon Graphics 's prototype Nintendo 64 workstations to create 3D graphics. Fans believed

17120-429: The player to act before an enemy attacks, and was used until Final Fantasy X , which implemented the "Conditional Turn-Based" (CTB) system. This new system returned to the previous turn-based system, but added nuances to offer players more challenge. Final Fantasy XI adopted a real-time battle system where characters continuously act depending on the issued command. Final Fantasy XII continued this gameplay with

17280-438: The project, and on December 12, he denied any involvement in the takedown notice. Megaupload dismissed its case against UMG in January 2012. Final Fantasy Final Fantasy is a fantasy anthology media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi which is owned, developed, and published by Square Enix (formerly Square ). The franchise centers on a series of fantasy role-playing video games . The first game in

17440-677: The purchase instead. In September 2021, IPO , Euronext Amsterdam announces an introduction price of €18,50 and Vivendi set an initial valuation for UMG at €33 billion ($ 38.3 billion). Vivendi distributed 60% of its UMG shares and retaining 10%. The family of French businessman Vincent Bolloré is revealed as the majority shareholder with 28% of UMG shares, through its holding company Bolloré (18%) and its subsidiary Vivendi (10%), headed by his son Yannick Bolloré . Tencent emerged as UMG's biggest corporate shareholder with 20% of shares. Pershing Square Holdings held 10% of UMG shares. In its IPO, UMG hits €54 billion ($ 62.6 billion) valuation which

17600-412: The remake trilogy, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth , was released on the PlayStation 5 in 2024. Square Enix has expanded the Final Fantasy series into various media. Multiple anime and computer-generated imagery (CGI) films have been produced that are based either on individual Final Fantasy games or on the series as a whole. The first was an original video animation (OVA), Final Fantasy: Legend of

17760-812: The sale of EMI to UMG was approved in the European Union and the United States by the European Commission and Federal Trade Commission respectively. However, the European Commission approved the deal only under the condition the merged company divest one third of its total operations to other companies with a proven track record in the music industry. UMG divested Mute Records , Parlophone , Roxy Recordings , MPS Records , Cooperative Music , Now That's What I Call Music! , Jazzland , Universal Greece, Sanctuary Records , Chrysalis Records , EMI Classics , Virgin Classics , and EMI's European regional labels to comply with this condition. UMG retained

17920-464: The scenario writer for the spin-off series, Kingdom Hearts . Daisuke Watanabe co-wrote the scenarios for Final Fantasy X and XII , and was the main writer for the XIII games. Artistic design, including character and monster creations, was handled by Japanese artist Yoshitaka Amano from Final Fantasy through Final Fantasy VI . Amano also handled title logo designs for all of the main series and

18080-476: The scope of the incident and affected assets." Following the publication of the New York Times story, Questlove of The Roots confirmed that the master tapes for two of the band's albums, including unused material and multi-track recordings, were lost in the fire. Similarly, Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic said he believed the masters for the band's 1991 album Nevermind were "gone forever" as

18240-425: The series was released in 1987, with 16 numbered main entries having been released to date. The franchise has since branched into other video game genres such as tactical role-playing , action role-playing , massively multiplayer online role-playing , racing , third-person shooter , fighting , and rhythm , as well as branching into other media, including films, anime , manga , and novels . Final Fantasy

18400-454: The series collectively as the 17th best game of all time, speaking very highly of its graphics, music and stories. In 1999, Next Generation listed the Final Fantasy series as number 16 on their "Top 50 Games of All Time", commenting that "by pairing state-of-the-art technology with memorable, sometimes shamelessly melodramatic storylines, the series has successfully outlasted its competitors [...] and improved with each new installation". It

18560-471: The series have either been adapted into or have had spin-offs in the form of manga and novels. The first was the novelization of Final Fantasy II in 1989, which was followed by a manga adaptation of Final Fantasy III in 1992. Later years have seen an increase in the number of non-video game adaptations and spin-offs. Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within has been adapted into a novel, the spin-off game Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles has been adapted into

18720-408: The series include Masashi Hamauzu , Hitoshi Sakimoto , and Yoko Shimomura . Uematsu was allowed to create much of the music with little direction from the production staff. Sakaguchi, however, would request pieces to fit specific game scenes including battles and exploring different areas of the game world. Once a game's major scenarios were completed, Uematsu would begin writing the music based on

18880-528: The series reached cumulative global physical and digital sales of 185 million units. Several games within the series have become best-selling games. At the end of 2007, the seventh, eighth, and ninth best-selling RPGs were Final Fantasy VII , VIII , and X respectively. The original Final Fantasy VII has sold over 14.4 million copies worldwide, earning it the position of the best-selling Final Fantasy game. Within two days of Final Fantasy VIII ' s North American release on September 9, 1999, it became

19040-595: The series. The series affected Square's business on several levels. The commercial failure of Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within resulted in hesitation and delays from Enix during merger discussions with Square. Square's decision to produce games exclusively for the Sony PlayStation—a move followed by Enix's decision with the Dragon Quest series—severed their relationship with Nintendo. Final Fantasy games were absent from Nintendo consoles, specifically

19200-459: The series. Most games contain elements of fantasy and science fiction and feature recycled names often inspired from various cultures' history, languages and mythology, including Asian , European , and Middle-Eastern . Examples include weapon names like Excalibur and Masamune—derived from Arthurian legend and the Japanese swordsmith Masamune respectively—as well as the spell names Holy, Meteor, and Ultima. Beginning with Final Fantasy IV ,

19360-481: The series. The most common is the airship for long range travel, accompanied by chocobos for travelling short distances, but others include sea and land vessels. Following Final Fantasy VII , more modern and futuristic vehicle designs have been included. In the mid-1980s, Square entered the Japanese video game industry with simple RPGs, racing games , and platformers for Nintendo 's Famicom Disk System . In 1987, Square designer Hironobu Sakaguchi chose to create

19520-507: The setting of the original Final Fantasy game, depicting a prequel story that explores the origins of the antagonist Chaos and the emergence of the four Warriors of Light . Enhanced 3D remakes of Final Fantasy III and IV were released in 2006 and 2007 respectively. The first installment of the Final Fantasy VII Remake project was released on the PlayStation 4 in 2020. The second and latest installment of

19680-584: The state in settlement. In 2007, with the help of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Stephanie Lenz sued UMG's publishing company for allegedly improperly requesting that, pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act , YouTube remove a 29-second home video in which Lenz's child danced to a recording of Prince's song " Let's Go Crazy ". After years of litigation, the suit settled in 2018, prior to

19840-583: The storied blues label Chess ; it housed masters for Impulse! , the groundbreaking jazz label. The vault held masters for the MCA, ABC, A&M, Geffen and Interscope labels; as well as some smaller subsidiary labels. Nearly all of these masters—in some cases, the complete discographies of entire record labels—were wiped out in the fire." In a statement issued on June 11, 2019, UMG said The New York Times article contained "numerous inaccuracies, misleading statements, contradictions and fundamental misunderstandings of

20000-454: The story, characters, and accompanying artwork. He started with a game's main theme, and developed other pieces to match its style. In creating character themes, Uematsu read the game's scenario to determine the characters' personality. He would also ask the scenario writer for more details to scenes he was unsure about. Technical limitations were prevalent in earlier games; Sakaguchi would sometimes instruct Uematsu to only use specific notes. It

20160-656: The street. Universal Music Group's Universal Music Polska is located in Warsaw . Universal Music Group's Universal Music Canada is located in Toronto . Universal Music Japan is headquartered in Shibuya , Tokyo. UMG operates in more than 60 territories around the world including Australia, Central America, Brazil, France, India, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Sub-Saharan Africa, Central and Eastern Europe, New Zealand, Russia, Ukraine, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia,

20320-409: The success of VII , it is sometimes criticized as being overrated. In 2003, GameSpy listed it as the seventh most overrated game of all time, while IGN presented views from both sides. Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII shipped 392,000 units in its first week of release, but received review scores that were much lower than that of other Final Fantasy games. A delayed, negative review after

20480-509: The table below, the lower the number given, the better the game is in the view of the respective publication. By way of comparison, the ratings provided by Famitsu magazine and the review aggregator Metacritic are also given; in these rows, higher numbers indicate better reviews. Note that Metacritic ratings up until Final Fantasy VII largely represent retrospective reviews from online websites years after their initial release, rather than contemporary reviews from video game magazines at

20640-612: The takedown was ordered under the terms of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act , and said that the takedown was "pursuant to the UMG-YouTube agreement," which gives UMG "the right to block or remove user-posted videos through YouTube's CMS (Content Management System) based on a number of contractually specified criteria." The video was subsequently returned to YouTube, with the reasons for the UMG takedown remaining unclear. Lawyers for will.i.am initially claimed that he had never agreed to

20800-414: The team wanted to explore the world, characters and mythos more, resulting in the development and release of two sequels in 2011 and 2013 respectively, creating the series' first official trilogy. Dissidia Final Fantasy was released in 2009, a fighting game that features heroes and villains from the first ten games of the main series. It was followed by a prequel in 2011, a sequel in 2015 and

20960-415: The themes of the games' plots. Crystals often play a central role in the creation of the world, and a majority of the Final Fantasy games link crystals and orbs to the planet's life force . As such, control over these crystals drives the main conflict. The classical elements are also a recurring theme in the series related to the heroes, villains, and items. Other common plot and setting themes include

21120-408: The themes of time, space, and gravity; and "Summoning magic", which evokes legendary creatures to aid in battle and is a feature that has persisted since Final Fantasy III . Summoned creatures are often referred to by names like "Espers" or "Eidolons" and have been inspired by mythologies from Arabic , Hindu , Norse , and Greek cultures. Different means of transportation have appeared through

21280-517: The time of their initial release. Final Fantasy has been influential in the history of video games and game mechanics. Final Fantasy IV is considered a milestone for the genre, introducing a dramatic storyline with a strong emphasis on character development and personal relationships. In 1992, Nintendo 's Shigeru Miyamoto noted the impact of Final Fantasy on Japanese role-playing games , stating Final Fantasy ' s "interactive cinematic approach" with an emphasis on "presentation and graphics"

21440-491: The time; had the game not sold well, he would have quit the business and gone back to college. Despite his explanation, publications have also attributed the name to the company's hopes that the project would solve its financial troubles. In 2015, Sakaguchi explained the name's origin: the team wanted a title that would abbreviate to " FF ", which would sound good in Japanese. The name was originally going to be Fighting Fantasy , but due to concerns over trademark conflicts with

21600-510: The top ten, with Final Fantasy X and VII coming first and second, respectively. The series holds seven Guinness World Records in the Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition 2008 , which include the "Most Games in an RPG Series" (13 main games, seven enhanced games, and 32 spin-off games), the "Longest Development Period" (the production of Final Fantasy XII took five years), and the "Fastest-Selling Console RPG in

21760-609: The top-selling video game in the United States, a position it held for more than three weeks. Final Fantasy X sold over 1.4 million Japanese units in pre-orders alone, which set a record for the fastest-selling console RPG. The MMORPG, Final Fantasy XI , reached over 200,000 active daily players in March 2006 and had reached over half a million subscribers by July 2007. Final Fantasy XII sold more than 1.7 million copies in its first week in Japan. By November 6, 2006—one week after its release— XII had shipped approximately 1.5 million copies in North America. Final Fantasy XIII became

21920-422: The use of Game Boy Advances as controllers was a big detractor. The predominantly negative reception of the original version of Final Fantasy XIV caused then-president Yoichi Wada to issue an official apology during a Tokyo press conference, stating that the brand had been "greatly damaged" by the game's reception. Various video game publications have created rankings of the mainline Final Fantasy games. In

22080-569: The valuation to $ 50 billion in 2019. In August 2013, UMG became the first company in the US to have nine of the Top 10 songs on the digital charts, according to SoundScan and weeks later, became the first company to hold all 10 of the Top 10 spots on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart . In September 2013, UMG received a SAG-AFTRA American Scene Award for the company's commitment to diversity as exemplified by its "entire catalog and roster of artists." On April 1, 2014, Universal Music announced

22240-440: The value created by artists. Indeed, in September 2023, they announced their launch of an artist-centric streaming model designed to better remunerate the artists and music that fans mostly enjoy. Also in 2023, Universal Music Group introduced a HBCU scholarship program for aspiring doctors. In October 2023, UMG and BandLab Technologies formed a partnership to protect the rights of artists as well as songwriters and guarantee

22400-440: The video with the original audio track. In December 2007, UMG announced a deal with Imeem that allowed users of the social network to listen to any track from Universal's catalogue for free with a portion of the advertising generated by the music being shared with the record label. All traffic was redirected to MySpace after that company acquired Imeem on December 8, 2009. According to Jody Rosen of The New York Times ,

22560-535: The war effort. However, Universal was an exception and donated more than 200,000 of their historic master recordings to the Library of Congress . The Decca Record Co. Ltd. of England spun American Decca off in 1939. MCA Inc. merged with American Decca in 1962. In November 1990, Japanese multinational conglomerate Matsushita Electric agreed to acquire MCA for $ 6.59 billion. In 1995, Seagram acquired 80 percent of MCA from Matsushita. On December 9, 1996,

22720-506: The world, it is one of the " Big Three " record labels, along with Sony Music Group and Warner Music Group . Tencent acquired ten percent of Universal Music Group in March 2020 for €3 billion and acquired an additional ten percent stake in January 2021. Pershing Square Holdings later acquired ten percent of UMG prior to its IPO on the Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange. The company went public on September 21, 2021, at

22880-478: Was awarded a star on the Walk of Game in 2006, making it the first franchise to win a star on the event (other winners were individual games, not franchises). WalkOfGame.com commented that the series has sought perfection as well as having been a risk taker in innovation. In 2006, GameFAQs held a contest for the best video game series ever, with Final Fantasy finishing as the runner-up to The Legend of Zelda . In

23040-405: Was because of this switch to 3D that a CD-ROM format was chosen over a cartridge format. The switch also led to increased production costs and a greater subdivision of the creative staff for VII and subsequent 3D games in the series. Starting with Final Fantasy VIII , the series adopted a more photo-realistic look. Like VII , full motion video (FMV) sequences would have video playing in

23200-533: Was cast under separate management from Universal Studios, when Vivendi sold 80% of the latter to General Electric , who subsequently merged it with NBC to form NBCUniversal . This came two months after the separation of Warner Music Group from Time Warner . In February 2006, Vivendi purchased the remaining 20 percent of UMG from Matsushita Electric . On September 6, 2006, Vivendi announced its €1.63 billion ($ 2.4 billion) purchase of BMG Music Publishing ; after receiving European Union regulatory approval,

23360-440: Was estimated that consumers were overcharged by $ 500 million and up to $ 5 per album. In May 2006, an investigation led by then New York Attorney General , Eliot Spitzer , concluded with a determination that Universal Music Group bribed radio stations to play songs from Ashlee Simpson , Brian McKnight , Big Tymers , Nick Lachey , Lindsay Lohan and other performers under Universal labels. The company paid $ 12 million to

23520-490: Was gradually becoming "the most common style" of Japanese RPG at the time. Final Fantasy VII , having been the first title of the series to be officially released in the PAL territories of Europe and Oceania, is credited as having the largest industry impact of the series, and with allowing console role-playing games to gain global mass-market appeal. VII is considered to be one of the most important and influential video games in

23680-440: Was named "weirdest hit album" of 2011 by Rolling Stone . A sequel was released in October 2012. In early 2012 X5 launched Classify , an app created through a partnership with Spotify that helps music browsers discover classical music. The software was downloaded 500,000 times in the first month, and X5 released statistics saying Classify brought sales of The 50 Greatest Pieces of Classical Music up by 50%, helping it to top

23840-664: Was named one of the Red Herring "Top 100 Most Innovative Companies in Europe" in 2013. The following is a list of labels and licensing companies that have partnerships with X5 Music Group: Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music ) is a Dutch – American multinational music corporation under Dutch law . UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum , Netherlands and its operational headquarters are located in Santa Monica , California. The biggest music company in

24000-459: Was not until Final Fantasy IV on the SNES that Uematsu was able to add more subtlety to the music. Overall, the Final Fantasy series has been critically acclaimed and commercially successful, though each installment has seen different levels of success. The series has seen a steady increase in total sales; it sold 25 million units by 1999, and reached 100 million units in 2011. By June 2023,

24160-507: Was president of production as head of film and television development and production, and theater producer Scott Landis as special advisor on theatrical development and production. UMG Executive Vice President Michele Anthony and Universal Music Publishing Group Chairman and CEO Jody Gerson have oversight of the pair. On February 11, 2017, PolyGram Entertainment was relaunched as a film and television unit of Universal Music Group under David Blackman. In 2015, UMG's Capitol Records earned all

24320-593: Was promoted to CEO of the company. Grainge later replaced Morris as chairman on March 9, 2011. Morris became the next chairman of Sony Music Entertainment on July 1, 2011. With Grainge's appointment as CEO at UMG, Max Hole was promoted to COO of UMGI, effective July 1, 2010. In January 2011, UMG announced it was donating 200,000 master recordings from the 1920s to 1940s to the Library of Congress for preservation. In 2011, EMI agreed to sell its recorded music operations to Universal Music Group for £1.2 billion ($ 1.9 billion) and its music publishing operations to

24480-514: Was promoted to Label President for Motown Records. Universal Music Group entered into film and TV production with the 2014 purchase of Eagle Rock Entertainment . UMG's first major film production was Amy , which won an Oscar for Best Documentary, while taking part in Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck and The Beatles: Eight Days a Week documentaries. In January 2016, UMG hired David Blackman from Laurence Mark Production where he

24640-407: Was published in 1999, and was the first to consistently use realistically proportioned characters and feature a vocal piece as its theme music. Final Fantasy IX , released in 2000, returned to the series' roots, by revisiting a more traditional Final Fantasy setting, rather than the more modern worlds of VII and VIII . Three main installments, as well as one online game, were published for

24800-459: Was released in 2023 for PlayStation 5 . Final Fantasy has spawned numerous spin-offs and metaseries . Several are, in fact, not Final Fantasy games, but were rebranded for North American release. Examples include the SaGa series , rebranded The Final Fantasy Legend , and its two sequels, Final Fantasy Legend II and III . Final Fantasy Mystic Quest was specifically developed for

24960-556: Was removed following a takedown request by UMG. Megaupload said that the video contained no infringing content, commenting: "we have signed agreements with every featured artist for this campaign". Megaupload requested an apology from UMG, and filed a lawsuit against the company in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California , on December 12, 2011. UMG denied that

25120-634: Was responsible for the character design. Nomura is also the character designer of the Kingdom Hearts series, Compilation of Final Fantasy VII , and Fabula Nova Crystallis: Final Fantasy . Other designers include Nobuyoshi Mihara and Akihiko Yoshida . Mihara was the character designer for Final Fantasy XI , and Yoshida served as character designer for Final Fantasy Tactics , the Square-produced Vagrant Story , and Final Fantasy XII . Because of graphical limitations,

25280-447: Was the first animated feature to seriously attempt to portray photorealistic CGI humans, but was considered a box office bomb and garnered mixed reviews. A 25-episode anime television series, Final Fantasy: Unlimited , was released in 2001 based on the common elements of the Final Fantasy series. It was broadcast in Japan by TV Tokyo and released in North America by ADV Films . In 2005, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children ,

25440-426: Was the scenario writer for the first three games; Kitase took over as scenario writer for Final Fantasy V through VII . Kazushige Nojima became the series' primary scenario writer from Final Fantasy VII until his resignation in October 2003; he has since formed his own company, Stellavista. Nojima partially or completely wrote the stories for Final Fantasy VII , VIII , X , and its sequel X-2 . He also worked as

25600-501: Was to mimic the development cycles of Western games in the Call of Duty , Assassin's Creed and Battlefield series, as well as maintain fan-interest. For the original Final Fantasy , Sakaguchi required a larger production team than Square's previous games. He began crafting the game's story while experimenting with gameplay ideas. Once the gameplay system and game world size were established, Sakaguchi integrated his story ideas into

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