Omega Force is currently developing the next entry in their key franchise Dynasty Warriors, dubbed Dynasty Warriors 9, moving the franchise from its arena-based combat to an open-world. The cover system has since become a staple of the third-person shooter genre. It also featured an early rendition of the laser sight mechanic, which would later be seen in games such as Resident Evil 4.
WinBack, released in 1999 for the Nintendo 64, pioneered the cover-based third-person shooter, inspiring games such as Kill Switch, Gears of War, and Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. However, because of copyright concerns with the clock manufacturing company Omega SA, Force was added – a Japanese homophone for 'fourth' – representing that they are the fourth business division. Wanting to keep the last letter of the alphabet, they settled for Omega from the Greek alphabet. The studio was originally going to be named after the letter Z, however this idea never came to fruition, as the letter Z can have different meanings outside of Japanese culture. Omega Force was founded in 1996 as the fourth Business Division of Koei, with the intention of widening the appeal of Koei's portfolio outside of their strategy and simulation games, such as Romance of Three Kingdoms and Nobunaga's Ambition.
