Grandia is a role-playing video game, developed by Game Arts and published by Entertainment Software Publishing for the Sega Saturn console as the first game in their Grandia series. Released in Japan in 1997, the game was ported to the PlayStation in 1999, with an English version of the game appearing on the platform in North America in the following September by Sony Computer Entertainment, and in Europe in 2000 by Ubisoft. The game was produced by much of the same staff who worked on the company's previous role-playing endeavor, the Lunar series, including producer Yoichi Miyagi and composer Noriyuki Iwadare.
European PlayStation cover art
Entertainment Software Publishing
Entertainment Software Publishing, Inc. (ESP) was a Japanese video game publisher headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo. It was founded in 1997 as a publisher for games developed by the Game Developers Network (GD-NET). GD-NET, which included companies such as Treasure and Game Arts, was established due to concerns over smaller developers not having the same financial backing like larger game companies did, as production of console games was beginning to rise. ESP was best known for publishing shoot 'em ups and role-playing games. While primarily a publisher, ESP also developed a handful of games internally.
ESP's former headquarters in Shibuya, Tokyo
ESP was established to publish games by smaller developers for consoles such as the Sega Saturn (pictured above).