Konami

Konami Corporation
コナミ株式会社
Type Public TYO: 9766
NYSE: KNM
Industry Video game industry
Entertainment industry
Health and fitness
Founded March 21, 1969
Headquarters

Tokyo Midtown, Minato, Tokyo, Japan
(U.S. operations in El Segundo, California and Paradise, Nevada; and distribution center in Indio, California?)
Sydney, Australia (Poker Machines) and video game production facility in Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico?

(Konami Europe headquarters in London, UK)
Key people Kagemasa Kozuki[1]
(Chairman and President)
Hideo Kojima
Koji Igarashi
Products Castlevania
Chouseishin
Contra
The Goonies
Beatmania IIDX (Japan only)
Dance Dance Revolution
Metal Gear
FlatOut (Japanese publishing)
Crash Bandicoot (Japanese Publishing)
Spyro The Dragon (Japanese Publishing)
Gradius
Pro Evolution Soccer
Saw
Silent Hill
Suikoden
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Winning Eleven
Yu-Gi-Oh! (video games and TCG)
Some Jurassic Park III titles
(See complete products listing)
Revenue ¥309,771 million (US$3.24 billion) (2009)[2]
Operating income ¥33.8 billion (US$401 million) (2009)[2]
Net income ¥10.874 billion (US$113 million) (2009)[2]
Employees 5,708 (as of March 31, 2010)
Website Konami.com
Konami.net
Konami-Europe.com
Konami-Play.com
Konami Corporation

Konami Corporation (コナミ株式会社 Konami Kabushiki-gaisha?) (TYO: 9766 NYSE: KNM SGX: K20) is a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games. Konami is famous for games such as the Metal Gear series, Dance Dance Revolution series, Castlevania series, Contra series, Pro Evolution Soccer series, Yu-Gi-Oh! series, Silent Hill series, Gradius series, and Frogger series.

The company was founded in 1969 as a jukebox rental and repair business in Osaka, Japan, by Kagemasa Kōzuki, the still-current chairman and president. The name "Konami" is a conjunction of the names Kagemasa Kozuki (current chairman and president), Yoshinobu Nakama, and Tatsuo Miyasako.

Konami is currently headquartered in Tokyo and additionally operates health and physical fitness clubs in Japan. Konami also operates United States activities in El Segundo, California for video games and Paradise, Nevada for the casino gaming industry. Its Australian gaming operations are located in Sydney, Australia, and distribution of Konami's games in Australia is handled by Mindscape Australia.

Contents

History

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 a large number 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.

(current Konami Service, Inc.) were established.

Konami Australia Pty Ltd was established in Australia.

Corporate structure

Japan

Oceania

America

Europe

Asia

On November 7, 2005, Konami Corporation announced restructuring Konami Corporation into a holding company, by moving its Japanese Digital Entertainment Business segment under Konami Corporation. The Digital Entertainment Business would became Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd. The newly established Konami Corporation was expected to begin operation on March 31, 2006.[14]

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 Kabushiki-gaisha Konami Dejitaru Entateinmento?) 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

Former subsidiaries

Konami Computer Entertainment Nagoya, Inc. (KCEN), originally founded October 1, 1996,[15] was dissolved along with Konami Computer Entertainment Kobe, Inc. (KCEK) in December 2002.[16]

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.[17][18]

On February 22, 2005, Konami Corporation announced Konami Media Entertainment, Inc. would merge into Konami Corporation, effective on March 1, 2005.[19]

On March 11, 2005, Konami Corporation announced Konami Traumer, Inc would be merged back into Konami Corporation, effective on June 1, 2005.[20]

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.[21] On February 28, 2006, Konami Sports Corporation merged with its parent company, Konami Sports Life Corporation, and became Konami Sports Corporation.[22]

On 2010-09-21, 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.[23][24] On 2011-01-1, Abilit Corporation was renamed to Takasago Electric Industry Co.,Ltd.[25] 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 franchises, including 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, Japan.

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 has worked on the PlayStation 2's Reiselied and 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, and 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 2006-10-02, Konami Corporation announced it had completed the acquisition of mobile phone content developer Megacyber Corporation.[26]

On 2007-02-06, 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 2007-04-01.[27]

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.

Games

Main article: List of Konami games

Konami has created and produced some of the biggest and most memorable video games over the past 25 years.

Genre-defining titles attributed to 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, GuitarFreaks, DrumMania, and Pop'n Music, among others) and the dating simulation Tokimeki Memorial series.

Konami is particularly notable for its arcade shoot 'em up 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 (or Power Pro) baseball series. Zone of the Enders 1 & 2. The company has also recently picked up "Saw" from Brash Entertainment when the game's production had been suspended due to financial issues.[28]

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.

Movie 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.[29] A Castlevania movie is also in the works.

Slot machine games

Konami produces a variety of slot machines including:

See also

Tokyo portal
Companies portal

Notes

  1. ^ "Board of Directors". Konami Corporation. http://www.konami.co.jp/en/corporate/data/profile.html. Retrieved 2010-08-04. 
  2. ^ a b c "News - Metal Gear Solid, Pro Evolution Soccer Boosts Konami's Games Biz". Gamasutra. 2009-05-14. http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=23628. Retrieved 2012-01-03. 
  3. ^ 2003 Konami Group Report April 1, 2002 - March 31, 2003
  4. ^ "Konami Opens New Gaming Production Facility in Las Vegas". Japancorp.net. http://www.japancorp.net/Article.Asp?Art_ID=10333. Retrieved 2012-01-03. 
  5. ^ "KONAMI CORPORATION Announces that It will Make a Subsidiary (HUDSON SOFT CO., LTD.) Its Wholly Owned Subsidiary through Share Exchange". http://www.konami.co.jp/zaimu/1101/release2_english.pdf. 
  6. ^ "KONAMI CORPORATION Announces that It will Make DIGITAL GOLF Inc. Its Wholly Owned Subsidiary through Share Exchange". http://www.konami.co.jp/zaimu/1101/release_english.pdf. 
  7. ^ "KONAMI ESTABLISHES NEW COMPUTER & VIDEOGAMES OPERATION BASED IN LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA". Archived from the original on 2006-09-29. http://web.archive.org/web/20060929075753/http://www.konami.com/gs/press/konami101303.html. 
  8. ^ "Introducing Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH". http://www.konami-digital-entertainment.de/news.do;jsessionid=335BA44513A82C9A7A42105616EF98EC?idNews=6. 
  9. ^ "About Us (English)". http://www.konami-digital-entertainment.hk/aboutus.php?lang=en. 
  10. ^ "About Us (Chinese)". http://www.konami-digital-entertainment.hk/aboutus.php?lang=cn-t. 
  11. ^ "科乐美软件(上海)有限公司:公司简介". http://www.konamish.com.cn/aboutus.html. 
  12. ^ "KONAMI DIGITAL ENTERTAINMENT 회사 소개". http://www.konami-korea.kr/company_intro.html. 
  13. ^ "konami.ph". konami.ph. http://www.konami.ph/. Retrieved 2012-01-03. 
  14. ^ "Announcement of Group Restructuring (Merger Between Subsidiaries, Stock Exchange with subsidiary) and Shift to Holding Company Structure by Company Separation". http://www.konami.co.jp/press/2005/11/041/r.17.11.07-e.html. 
  15. ^ "Company Info". ＫＣＥ名古屋ホームページ. Konami Co., Ltd.. Archived from the original on 3 December 2002. http://web.archive.org/web/20021203213358/www.konami.co.jp/kcen/index.html. Retrieved 21 August 2010. 
  16. ^ "Consolidated Financial Results for the Third Quarter and the Nine Months Ended December 31, 2002". Investor Relations. Konami Co., Ltd.. 13 February 2003. http://www.konami.co.jp/zaimu/0212/e/english.pdf. Retrieved 21 August 2010. 
  17. ^ "Konami's Merger with Konami Online". http://www.konami.co.jp/press/2004/12/045/r.16.12.16-e.html. 
  18. ^ "Konami's Merger with its Subsidiaries". http://www.konami.co.jp/press/2004/12/044/r.16.12.16-e.html. 
  19. ^ "Konami -- KME Merger Announcement". http://www.konami.co.jp/press/2005/02/002/r.17.02.22-e.html. 
  20. ^ "Announcement: Merger of Konami and Konami Traumer". http://www.konami.co.jp/press/2005/04/013/r.17.04.11-e.html. 
  21. ^ "Announcement of official agreement for group restructuring (merger between subsidiaries, share exchange with subsidiary) and shift to holding company structure by company separation". http://www.konami.co.jp/press/2006/01/001/r.18.01.05-e.html. 
  22. ^ "Konami Sports & Life history". Archived from the original on 2008-04-22. http://web.archive.org/web/20080422191741/http://www.konamisportsandlife.com/history/index.html. 
  23. ^ "KONAMI CORPORATION to Acquire Abilit Corporation through Stock Swap". http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/9766.T/key-developments/article/1982065. 
  24. ^ [http://www.konami.co.jp/zaimu/1009/1009_release_english.pdf "Execution of Share Exchange Agreement by and between KONAMI CORPORATION and ABILIT CORPORATION"]. http://www.konami.co.jp/zaimu/1009/1009_release_english.pdf. 
  25. ^ "Abilit Corp.: Private Company Information - BusinessWeek". 
  26. ^ "Announcement of Share Acquisition of Megacyber Corporation". http://www.konami.co.jp/en/news/topics/061002/index.html. 
  27. ^ "Announcement of Merger of Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd. and Megacyber Corporation". http://www.konami.co.jp/en/news/topics/070206/. 
  28. ^ "Saw videogame picked up by Konami?". 2009-02-05. http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/12266. Retrieved 2009-02-06. 
  29. ^ "Where did the Video Games site go?". Yahoo. http://videogames.yahoo.com/newsarticle?eid=456314&page=0. 
  30. ^ "Konami Gaming - Slot Machines - Slots Games". Slotshero.com. http://www.slotshero.com/slots/machine/manufacturers/konami/. Retrieved 2012-01-03. 

References

External links

Konami franchises