Konami

Konami Digital Entertainment Inc. (コナミデジタルエンターテインメント株式会社) tyo: 9766 nyse: KNM is a Japanese developer and publisher of numerous toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets, video games, and additionally operates health and physical fitness clubs in Japan.

Konami is famous for popular video game series such as Castlevania, Contra, Dance Dance Revolution, Gradius, Frogger, Suikoden, Ganbare Goemon, Metal Gear, Pro Evolution Soccer, Silent Hill and Yu-Gi-Oh!. The 2012 purchase and absorption of Hudson Soft resulted in the addition of several other popular franchises, including Adventure Island, Bonk, Bloody Roar, Bomberman, Far East of Eden and Star Soldier. Konami is the fifth-largest game company in the world by revenue.

The company was founded in 1969 as a jukebox rental and repair business in Toyonaka, Osaka, Japan, by Kagemasa Kōzuki, who remains the company's chairman. The name "Konami" is a conjunction of the names Kagemasa Kozuki, Yoshinobu Nakama, and Tatsuo Miyasako.

Konami is currently headquartered in Tokyo. In the United States Konami manages its video game business from offices in El Segundo, California and manages its casino gaming business from offices in Paradise, Nevada. Its Australian gaming operations are located in Sydney, Australia.

History
On March 21, 1969, Kagemasa Kozuki (current chairman) founded a jukebox rental/repair business in Toyonaka, Osaka.

On March 19, 1973, Kozuki transformed the business into Konami Industry Co., Ltd. and began work on manufacturing "amusement machines" for arcades. Their first actual game machine was not created until 1978, and they began exporting products to the United States the following year. They began to achieve success with hit arcade games such as 1981 's Frogger, Scramble, and Super Cobra, many of which were licensed to other companies for stateside release, including Stern Electronics and Gremlin Industries.

In May 1980, Konami moved their headquarters to Toyonaka, Osaka.

In March 1981, the Konami logo was established. A new logo with the name in italics was released in 1986 and was altered in 1998 from italics to Roman text. In 2003, Konami introduced a new logo for the company's 30th anniversary. The company also introduced the new tagline "(びっくり):Bikkuri", which means "Be Creative".

In October 1982, Konami began manufacturing and selling PC games. In November 1982, Konami of America, Inc. (currently Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc.) was established in Torrance, California. It relocated to Buffalo Grove, Illinois in 1984 and in 1999 it relocated again to Redwood City, California, leaving the location in Illinois open strictly for the manufacturing of Konami's arcade video games. In 2003, Konami of America closed down their arcade division due to heavy losses; the entire Buffalo Grove, Illinois location was shut down along with it. All machine inquiries and new machines would thereafter be handled by Betson Enterprises. As of 2007, Konami Corporation of America has moved its U.S head office once again from Redwood City to Konami Digital Entertainment's office in El Segundo, California.

In November 1983, Konami began manufacturing and selling MSX games.

In May 1984, Konami Ltd. (currently Konami Digital Entertainment B.V.) was established in the United Kingdom. In October 1984, Konami was listed on the Second Section of the Osaka Securities Exchange (specially designated stocks in the second section). Subsequent stock listings include Second Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange (2/1988), London Stock Exchange (9/1999), New York Stock Exchange (9/2002), and the Nikkei Stock Average (Nikkei 225)(10/2003). In December 1984, Konami GmbH (currently Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH) was established in Germany.

In April 1985, Konami began manufacturing and selling Family Computer ("Famicom") video games. This new business was, in addition to their arcade market, from which many games were later ported. Konami began to achieve great success when the Famicom took off, being released in the United States as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Many of the NES/Famicom's bestselling titles were produced by Konami, including Gradius, the Castlevania series, the Contra series, and Metal Gear. Konami was one of the most active and prolific third party development studios for the NES, which led to conflict with Nintendo of America's licensing restrictions. During the heyday of the NES, Nintendo of America controlled the production of all licensed NES software titles, and limited third party developers to a maximum of five titles per year. Several companies found a way around this restriction by founding quasi-independent subsidiary corporations, effectively doubling the number of games that they could release during the year. In the case of Konami, this subsidiary was known as Ultra Games, and many of Konami titles were published in North America under their banner, including Metal Gear, Gyruss, Skate or Die!, the first two Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games and Snake's Revenge (a sequel to the original Metal Gear made specifically for the western market). In Europe, faced with a similar restriction placed by Nintendo's European branch, Konami established Palcom Software Ltd. to the same end. By the early 1990s, Nintendo of America had relaxed many of its licensing restrictions, and, no longer needed, Ultra was reabsorbed into Konami's official American branch in 1992.

In December 1987, Konami Kosan Co., Ltd. (currently Konami Real Estate, Inc.) was established.

In May 1991, Konami Technology Development Center (currently Amusement Content Business's Kobe Office) opened in Kobe. In June 1991, Konami Industries Co., Ltd., was renamed to Konami Co., Ltd. In November 1991, Konami entered the PC Engine game business. In June 1992, Konami set up Tokyo headquarters.

In December 1992, Konami entered the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis game business. In 1992, members of Konami left to form Treasure Co. Ltd, which, like Konami, is well known in the video gaming community for creating high caliber shooters and action games.

In 1993, Konami headquarters moved from Kobe to Tokyo.

In September 1994, Konami (Hong Kong) Limited (currently Konami Digital Entertainment Limited) was established in Hong Kong. In December 1994, Konami entered the PlayStation video game business.

In April 1995, Konami Computer Entertainment Osaka Co., Ltd. (currently Konami Computer Entertainment Osaka, Inc.) and Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo Co., Ltd. (currently Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo, Inc.) were established. In May 1995, Konami entered the Sega Saturn game business. In December 1995, Konami Music Entertainment Co., Ltd. (current Konami Music Entertainment, Inc.) was established.

In April 1996, Konami Computer Entertainment Japan Co., Ltd. (current Konami Computer Entertainment Japan, Inc.) and Konami Service Co., Ltd. (current Konami Service, Inc.) were established. In May 1996, Konami shifted to a business divisional organization. In October 1996, Konami Finance Co., Ltd. (current Konami Capital, Inc.) was established. In November 1996, holding company Konami Corporation of America was established in the U.S. and Konami Australia Pty Ltd. was established in Australia.

In January 1997, Konami Gaming, Inc. was established in the United States. In March 1997, Amusement Content Business plant was constructed in Kobe. Konami Computer Entertainment School Co., Ltd. (currently Konami School, Inc.) was established. In October 1997, Konami entered the gaming machine market in Australia. In November 1997, Konami was listed on the Singapore Exchange. A European company, Konami Europe B.V. (currently Konami Digital Entertainment B.V.), was established in the Netherlands.

In 1998, Konami released Dance Dance Revolution, a dance simulation game that revolutionized the music game industry. In December 1999, the official registered address of Konami's headquarters was changed from Kobe to Tokyo. In January 2000, Konami received a licence of manufacturing and sales of gaming machines from the U.S. state of Nevada. In June 2000, Konami Software Shanghai, Inc. was established. In July 2000, Konami Co., Ltd. was renamed to Konami Corporation.

In August 2000, Konami Computer Entertainment Sapporo, Inc. merged with Konami Computer Entertainment Yokohama, Inc., and the new company was named Konami Computer Entertainment Studios, Inc. On September 21, 2000, Konami and Universal Studios announced that they had entered an agreement that would enable Konami to publish a Crash Bandicoot game for next-generation game systems, with Universal Interactive (Vivendi Games) handling the production of the games. In October 2000, Konami Marketing, Inc., was established and began operations.

In February 2001, People Co., Ltd. (later renamed Konami Sports & Life Co., Ltd.) became Konami's subsidiary through a friendly TOB takeover bid and Konami entered the health & fitness business. On May 14, 2001, Konami made a deal with Universal Interactive to team up by producing and distributing some more titles, rather than just the Crash Bandicoot titles. In August 2001, Konami invested in Hudson Soft Co., Ltd. and made it an affiliated company. In October 2001, Konami entered the toy candy business.

In February 2002, Konami entered the Xbox game business. Konami Sports Corporation acquired the shares of Daiei Olympic Sports Club, Inc. (currently Konami Olympic Sports Club Corporation, which would be merged by Konami Sports Corporation in October 2002) and became Konami's subsidiary. In August 2002, Konami's headquarters was moved from Minato, Tokyo to Chiyoda, Tokyo.

In 2003, Konami teamed up with the Japanese film production company Toho Company, Ltd. in creating their own genre of tokusatsu TV series, known as the Chouseishin Series, in attempt to emulate and rival the success of Toei's Super Sentai genre.

In 2005, Konami accepted new third-party shares issued by Hudson Soft Co., Ltd. and made it a consolidated subsidiary. Konami opened an office and gaming production facility in Paradise, Nevada for its casino gaming equipment subsidiary, Konami Gaming. In October 2005, Konami Logistics and Service, Inc. (currently Konami Manufacturing and Service, Inc.) was established. In 2005, Konami was the sixth largest game developer in Japan after Nintendo, Square Enix, Capcom, Sega Sammy Holdings, and Namco Bandai.

In February 2006, Internet Revolution, Inc. was established as a joint venture company with Internet Initiative Japan Inc. In March 2006, Konami acquired capital in Resort Solution Co., Ltd. (equity method affiliate) and business alliance. Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd. was newly established to take over Konami’s digital entertainment business and Konami became a pure holding company. In May 2006, Konami acquired entire stake in Combi Wellness Corporation and made it a subsidiary. In August 2006, Konami entered the pachinko slot machine market.

In April 2007, Konami's headquarters was moved to Minato, Tokyo. The offices of Konami group in Tokyo were moved to Tokyo Midtown.

In March 2008, Konami transformed Sportsplex Japan Co., Ltd. into a consolidated subsidiary through a share purchase.

In August 2014, PlayStudios in association with American MGM Gambling struck a content deal with Konami Gaming's myVegas app.

Japan

 * Konami Corporation
 * Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd.
 * Konami Sports & Life Co., Ltd.
 * Konami Real Estate, Inc.
 * KPE, Inc.
 * Konami Manufacturing and Service, Inc.
 * Konami Facility Service, Inc.
 * KME Co., Ltd.
 * Takasago Electric Industry Co., Ltd.
 * Hudson Soft Company, Limited: On 2011-01-20, Konami Corporation announced turning Hudson Soft Co., Ltd. as its wholly subsidiary via share exchange. The exchange became effective on 2011-04-01.
 * DIGITAL GOLF Inc.: On 2011-01-20, Konami Corporation announced the acquisition of DIGITAL GOLF Inc. via share exchange. DIGITAL GOLF would become a wholly owned subsidiary of Konami Corporation. The exchange became effective on 2011-03-01.
 * Internet Revolution, Inc.
 * Biz Share Corporation
 * Combi Wellness Corporation
 * THE CLUB AT YEBISU GARDEN CO., LTD.

Australia

 * Konami Australia Pty Ltd (established in 1996)

America



 * Konami Corporation of America: Current U.S.-based holding company.
 * Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc.: Former American holding company, formerly Konami of America Inc., Konami Corporation of America. On October 13, 2003, Konami Corporation of Redwood City, California announced it was expanding its operations to El Segundo, California under the new name of Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. The Redwood City operations have since been consolidated to El Segundo in 2007.
 * Konami Gaming, Inc. in Paradise, Nevada.

Europe

 * Konami Digital Entertainment B.V.: Current European-based holding company.
 * Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH: Former holding company Europe, formerly Konami Limited, Konami Corporation of Europe B.V.. On March 31, 2003, Konami of Europe announced it would be renamed as Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH at the start of Konami’s new financial year (2003-04-01).

Asia

 * Konami Digital Entertainment Limited (科樂美數碼娛樂有限公司): Established in 1994-09-? as Konami (Hong Kong) Limited. Korea and Singapore divisions were established in 2000-10-?. In 2001-06-?, the company changed name to Konami Marketing (ASIA) Ltd. (科樂美行銷(亞洲)有限公司). On 2006-03-?, the company was renamed Konami Digital Entertainment Limited.
 * Konami Software Shanghai, Inc. (科乐美软件（上海）有限公司): Established in June 2000.
 * Konami Digital Entertainment Co. (주식회사 코나미 디지털 엔터테인먼트): South Korea-based game producer and distributor, originally established as the Korea branch of Konami Digital Entertainment Limited. On 2008-05-01, it became a separate company, and inherited the existing operations of the former Korea branch in 2008-06-?.

On November 7, 2005, Konami Corporation officially announced restructuring Konami Corporation into a holding company, by moving its Japanese Digital Entertainment Business segment under Konami Corporation. The Digital Entertainment Business would become Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd. The newly established Konami Corporation was expected to begin operation on March 31, 2006.

Konami Digital Entertainment
Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd. (株式会社コナミデジタルエンタテインメント) is Konami Corporation's Japanese video game development and publishing division. Before Konami Corporation had formally changed to a holding company in 2006, various forms of Konami Digital Entertainment companies had been established either as holding company or publisher. The last of the company, the Japan-based Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd., was split from Konami Corporation during the holding company restructuring process.

Divisions

 * Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd.: Japan division, established on 2006-03-31.
 * Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc.: North American division, established on 2003-10-13.
 * Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH: European division, established on 2003-04-01.
 * Konami Digital Entertainment Limited: Hong Kong division. Established in September 1994 as Konami (Hong Kong) Limited. In March 2003, it was renamed to Konami Digital Entertainment Limited.

Former subsidiaries
Konami Computer Entertainment Nagoya, Inc. (KCEN), originally founded on October 1, 1996, was dissolved along with Konami Computer Entertainment Kobe, Inc. (KCEK) in December 2002.

On December 16, 2004, Konami Corporation announced Konami Online, Inc., Konami Computer Entertainment Studios, Inc., Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo, Inc., Konami Computer Entertainment Japan, Inc. would merge into Konami Corporation, effective on March 1, 2005.

On February 22, 2005, Konami Corporation announced Konami Media Entertainment, Inc. would merge into Konami Corporation, effective on March 1, 2005.

On March 11, 2005, Konami Corporation announced Konami Traumer, Inc would be merged back into Konami Corporation, effective on June 1, 2005.

On January 5, 2006, Konami Corporation announced the merger of Konami Sports Corporation merged with its parent company, Konami Sports Life Corporation. The parent would be dissolved under the merger, and Konami Sports would become the wholly owned subsidiary of Konami Corporation after share exchange between KC and KS. After the share exchange, KS would be renamed Konami Sports & Life Co.,Ltd. On February 28, 2006, Konami Sports Corporation merged with its parent company, Konami Sports Life Corporation, and became Konami Sports Corporation.

On September 21, 2010, Konami Corporation announced it has signed an agreement to acquire with Abilit Corporation via share exchange. After the transaction, Abilit Corporation became a wholly owned subsidiary of Konami Corporation, effective January 1, 2011. On January 1, 2011, Abilit Corporation was renamed to Takasago Electric Industry Co.,Ltd. As part of the acquisition, Biz Share Corporation also became a subsidiary of Konami Corporation.

Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo
Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo, (aka KCET, KCE Tokyo, Konami TYO, and Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo Co., Ltd.) is a former subsidiary of Konami Corporation. Konami absorbed KCET along with several of its other subsidiaries in 2005. KCET was a Tokyo-based game developer responsible for many of Konami's most notable video game franchises, including Pro Evolution Soccer/Winning Eleven, Castlevania, Dance Dance Revolution, Gradius and Silent Hill.

Konami Computer Entertainment Japan
Konami JPN Ltd., formerly Konami Computer Entertainment Japan (KCEJ), is a video game developer and subsidiary of Konami Corporation, located in Tokyo.

The development house has worked on titles for a wide variety of platforms, ranging from Game Boy to PlayStation. KCEJ is split into two different development teams, located in two offices in Tokyo. KCEJ East developed 7 Blades as well as a number of dating sims for the PlayStation, Sega Saturn and Game Boy. KCEJ West is known for the best-selling Metal Gear Solid series, as well as the Beatmania and GuitarFreaks series.

On April 1, 2005, KCEJ (along with KCET and KCES) merged with its parent company. Hideo Kojima (the company's former vice president) has formed his own subsidiary, Kojima Productions.

Megacyber Corporation
On October 2, 2006, Konami Corporation announced it had completed the acquisition of mobile phone content developer Megacyber Corporation.

On February 6, 2007, Konami Corporation announced Megacyber Corporation to be merged into Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd., with Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd. being the surviving company, effective on April 1, 2007.

Distribution of Konami's games in Australia
Since the NES was released in Australia in 1987, Konami's games were distributed by Mattel Australia, just like the NES was. In 1994 when Nintendo Co., Ltd opened Nintendo Australia Pty Ltd, Konami's products were distributed by Nintendo Australia until GT Interactive (Infogrames) Australia was opened when they took over the distribution. GT Interactive then turned into Infogrames Australia and then Atari Australia. In early November, it was announced that Konami of Europe had granted exclusive distribution of its games in Australia to Red Ant Enterprises and was to commence distribution with them in February 2009. In early January 2009, Red Ant Enterprises went into receivership and closed down completely in May 2009, and Konami of Europe was quick to re-sign with Atari Australia after the announcement of their closure in January 2009.

Video games
Major titles by Konami include the vampire-hunting side scroller Castlevania series, the survival horror Silent Hill series, the action/shooter Contra series, the platform/adventure Ganbare Goemon series, the espionage action Metal Gear series, the console role-playing Suikoden series, the music-oriented Bemani series (which includes Dance Dance Revolution, Beatmania IIDX, GuitarFreaks, DrumMania, and Pop'n Music, among others) and the dating simulation Tokimeki Memorial series.

Konami also produced its shoot 'em up arcade games such as Gradius, Life Force, Time Pilot, Gyruss, Parodius, Axelay, and TwinBee. Konami's games based on cartoon licenses, especially the Batman: The Animated Series, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Tiny Toon Adventures series, but other American productions like The Simpsons, Bucky O'Hare, G.I. Joe and The Goonies and French production (Asterix) all have seen release at some point in the past by Konami either on arcades and/or video game consoles.

Recent cinematically styled franchises from Konami are the continuing Silent Hill survival horror franchise, and the Metal Gear series, which underwent a public renaissance with Metal Gear Solid. Another successful franchise is Winning Eleven, the spiritual sequel to International Superstar Soccer, which is extremely popular in Asia, Latin America, Middle East and Europe, where it is sold by the name Pro Evolution Soccer. And in Japan, it is known for the extremely popular Jikkyō Powerful Pro Yakyū series baseball series and the Zone of the Enders games. The company has also recently picked up Saw from Brash Entertainment when the game's production had been suspended due to financial issues.

Konami is also known for its password, the Konami Code, which traditionally gives many power-ups in its games. Although variants also exist, as in the Parodius series, and button naming can differ depending on the controller used, the classic Famicom or NES combination is: Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A. Although use of this code in more recent Konami productions has been sparse.

Marketing
Konami is represented by the goroawase number "573". "Five" in Japanese is go, changed to the voiceless form ko; "7" in Japanese is nana shortened to na; "3" in Japanese is mittsu, shortened to mi; "573" = ko-na-mi.

This number appears in many Konami telephone numbers and as a high score in Konami games like Dance Dance Revolution (which also featured songs with a max combo of the number) as an example; in some other games like Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, the number is occasionally used as minor self-reference to the company.

In 2003, Konami started distributing game contents for mobile phones to Vodafone's customers in 13 European countries, including Britain, Germany and Italy.

Film production
In 2006, Konami started producing movies based on their popular franchises. Konami produced the Silent Hill movie (released in 2006) and has announced that they will produce a Metal Gear Solid movie. A Castlevania movie is also in the works.

Slot machine games
Konami produces a variety of slot machines including: Rocky Slots (they hold the license for the slot machine rights to the movie franchise), Money in the Bank, Solstice Gold, African Treasure, Atlantic Treasure, Aloha Gold, Cash Inferno, Coinopolis, Big Payoff, Billionaires, and Lucky Dice.