Konami started out renting and repairing jukeboxes in Osaka
One of Japan's best-known game companies began in 1969 fixing and renting out jukeboxes. Its name blends the surnames of its three founders. When jukeboxes went into decline, Konami switched to arcade machines, and by the early 1980s it was producing hits such as Frogger and Track & Field.
The founders, Kagemasa Kōzuki, Yoshinobu Nakama and Tatsuo Miyasako, all came from the music business; Kōzuki and Miyasako had worked together at Nippon Columbia's Osaka branch. They started in Toyonaka, and after the Japanese jukebox trade slumped they incorporated in 1973 as a maker of electro-mechanical arcade games. By the late 1970s they were writing video games as a contractor. Kōzuki remains chairman today.
Arcade success began with Scramble in 1981, and many early titles reached America through licensing deals with firms such as Sega and Stern Electronics before Konami opened its own US subsidiary in 1982. On home consoles it became known for a sly trick against piracy: an unauthorised copy of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III for the NES quietly weakened the player, strengthened enemies and made the final boss, Shredder, impossible to defeat.
In the mid-1990s Konami split development into studios, one producing Silent Hill and another reviving Metal Gear as Metal Gear Solid. In 1997 it launched the Bemani rhythm games, later home to Dance Dance Revolution, and began the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game, now one of the best-selling card games ever. It also expanded well beyond games into fitness clubs, pachinko machines, slot machines and casinos.
The 2010s brought upheaval. Konami absorbed Hudson Soft, gaining Bomberman, then dissolved Kojima Productions and delisted from the New York Stock Exchange in 2015, when a new gaming chief declared that mobile is where the future of gaming lies. In 2020 it moved its headquarters to Tokyo's Ginza district, including an esports venue and a school for esports players. By revenue it ranks sixteenth among the world's game companies.
Source: Konami
