Namco founder and 'father of Pac-Man' dies at 91

This article comes from Highwaygames.com

Masaya Nakamura, the man who founded Namco and was known as the “Father of Pac-Man”, has died.

He was 91 years old.

Mr Nakamura died on January 22.

However, his death was only announced on Monday by Bandai Namco. The company said it will not comment on the cause of Mr Nakamura's death, citing the wishes of his family.

Mr Nakamura was born in 1925 and studied ship-building at the Yokohama Institute Of Technology.

In 1955, when Japan’s economy was picking back up after World War II, he started a company called Nakamura Amusement Machine Manufacturing Company.

Originally a provider of mechanical kids’ rides for department stores, the enterprise expanded to arcade games in the 1970s when the video game craze started to sweep Japan.

The company’s name was eventually shortened to simply Namco – an acronym based on the original name.

In 1980, Namco released designer Toru Iwatani’s Pac-Man – the colourful ghost-chase classic that has been a pop culture mainstay ever since.

Thanks to Namco, which became an incredibly successful videogame developer and publisher that eventually merged with Bandai in 2005, Mr Nakamura was one of the people credited with launching the Japanese videogame industry.

In addition to Pac-Man, Namco also released other arcade classics like Galaga, Pole Position and Ms. Pac-Man.



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