Konami Corporation
Overview
Konami Corporation was founded in 1969 in Osaka, Japan by
Kagemasa Kozuki, who currently serves as Chief Executive Officer. Originally named
Konami Industry Co. Ltd., the company began manufacturing amusement machines in 1973. The company assumed its current name in 1991. Since then, the company has grown into a large international company focused on a wide variety of entertainment and lifestyle technologies and products, from video games to fitness clubs, from toys to gaming machines.
By 2002, Konami was generating over $1.7 billion in revenues, making it one of the largest and fastest-growing companies in the industry. Publicly traded since 1988 on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and the Osaka Securities Exchange, and listed on the NYSE in 2002, Konami now has over 2000 employees, with offices in North and South America, Europe and Asia, and several studios in Japan. The worldwide headquarters are located in Tokyo, Japan. The main U.S. offices are located in Redwood City, California.
Konami currently employs over 1000 R&D staff focused on developing sophisticated entertainment products for the worldwide video game audience. This staff combines brilliant creativity with extensive research and cutting-edge technologies to produce some of the world’s most exciting games.
These efforts have led to such enormously popular games as Metal Gear Solid, Castlevania, Silent Hill, Frogger, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Contra and more. Some, like the Dance Dance Revolution series, are expanding the market and actually changing the way people play and experience video games. Many of Konami's recent products have received the most prestigious awards in the industry for innovation, quality and sales.
Konami is committed to leading the way toward the future of entertainment. Our mission is to continue innovating, continue pushing the boundaries of creativity and technology, and continue building some of the best games and entertainment products in the world.
In 2005 Konami Corporation merged with six of its subsidiaries:
On 30th March 2006 the company shifted its Japanese video game enterprise at a new subsidiary,
Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd., and Konami Corporation shifted to the holding company.
Also Known As
- Konami Co., Ltd. (from Jun, 1991 to May, 2000)
- Konami Industry Co. Ltd. (from Mar, 1969 to Jun, 1991)
Trivia
Konami has a secret code which is used in a lot of games. The famous code combination is
Up-Up-Down-Down-Left-Right-Left-Right-B-A. Results vary per game. SNES often used L and R instead of B and A, and on the PlayStation they were replaced by the Square/Triangle/Cross/Circle buttons.
There's even a Californian rock band called
Up-Up-Down-Down-Left-Right-Left-Right-B-A and the punk band The Ataris named a song after the code on the album "End Is Forever".
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