Namco Founder Masaya Nakamura Died at 91

A father of the Japanese gaming industry has passed away after 91 years.

In 1955, Masaya Nakamura founded Nakamura Manufacturing, a company who built amusement rides. It was eventually renamed Nakamura Amusement Machine Manufacturing Company or "Namco" for short. As many may know, they later merged with Bandai in 2005 to give us the presently familiar Bandai Namco.

In the 1950s, Japanese department stores had rides and carnival-style analog arcade games. As strange as this sounds today, they had no arcades to inhabit because they were later the reason they existed in the first place. Namco had its first success manufacturing these machines.

in the late 1970s, Nakamura's business was very successful with hits like Galaxian, Galaga, Pole Position, and Xevious. Their biggest hit by far, however, was Pac-Man, as it is still known today as the most important Japanese video game, thanks to Nakamura's business savvy.

He was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun in 2007 for his achievements by the Japanese government itself, officially recognizing him as a figure in Japanese culture.

According to the official release from Namco Bandai, Nakamura passed away on January 22, but the news of his death was not made public until today.