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Clover Studio was an independent Japanese video game development studio funded by Capcom. The studio developed the PlayStation 2 port of Viewtiful Joe, both versions of Viewtiful Joe 2 for the Nintendo GameCube and PlayStation 2, and the PS2 titles ÅŒkami and God Hand. The name "clover" is an abbreviation of "creativity lover" as well as the Japanese syllables mi and ba coming from the names of Shinji Mikami and Clover's Atsushi Inaba.
The studio consisted largely of existing Capcom R&D talent, who had formed the company, in order to achieve greater executive control, and thus creative freedom, but like Sega's semi-autonomous studios did in the early 2000s. The studio focused largely on creating new intellectual property rather than sequels. When these failed to perform on par with Capcom's more popular series, Capcom attempted to merge the studio back into their internal R&D. Those at the studio chose instead to leave the company, and Clover was closed.
Some of the key members of Clover founded Seeds Inc., a new development group that merged with ODD Incorporated in October 2007 to form Platinum Games, which has since built up a staff composed of former Clover staff. Other members went to join Ignition Entertainment at their Tokyo development studio, which developed the game El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron. On October 28, 2010, one of the most prominent members of Clover Studio and then Platinum Games, Shinji Mikami, joined ZeniMax Media in a deal where ZeniMax acquired his new development studio Tango Gameworks.
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