Konami

Konami Holdings Corporation
Native name
 株式会社コナミホールディングス
Kabushikigaisha Konami Hōrudingusu
Kabushiki gaisha
Traded as TYO: 9766
Industry Entertainment
Video games
Founded March 21, 1969 (1969-03-21)
Founders Kagemasa Kōzuki
Headquarters Tokyo Midtown, Minato, Tokyo, Japan
Area served
 Global
Key people
 Kagemasa Kozuki
(Chairman)
Takuya Kozuki
(President)
Products List of Konami games
Revenue Increase ¥ 229.9 billion (2017)[1]
Increase ¥ 36.4 billion[1]
Increase ¥ 26 billion[1]
Owner Kozuki family (29%)[2]
Number of employees
 4,578 (2016)[3]
Divisions
  • Konami Digital Entertainment
  • Konami Sports & Life
  • Konami Amusement
  • Konami Real Estate
Subsidiaries 4K Media Inc.
Website Konami Holdings Corporation

Konami Holdings Corporation (Japanese: 株式会社コナミホールディングス, Hepburn: Kabushikigaisha Konami Hōrudingusu, commonly referred to as Konami; TYO: 9766 OTC Pink: KNMCY) is a Japanese entertainment company. It operates as a product distributor (which produces and distributes trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines and arcade cabinets), video game developer and publisher company. It also operates health and physical fitness clubs across Japan.

Konami is famous for popular video game series such as Suikoden, Castlevania, Contra, Dance Dance Revolution, Frogger, Gradius, Metal Gear, Pro Evolution Soccer, Silent Hill and Yu-Gi-Oh!. The absorption of Hudson Soft in 2012 resulted in the addition of several other franchises including: Adventure Island, Bonk, Bloody Roar, Bomberman, Far East of Eden and Star Soldier. Konami is the twentieth-largest game company in the world by revenue.[4]

The company originated 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" (/koʊˈnɑːmi/; Japanese pronunciation: [kó.nà.mì]) is a conjunction of the names Kagemasa Kozuki, Yoshinobu Nakama, and Tatsuo Miyasako.[5]

Konami is currently headquartered in Tokyo. In the United States, Konami manages its video game business from offices in El Segundo, California and its casino gaming business from offices in Paradise, Nevada. Its Australian gaming operations are located in Sydney. As of March 2016, it owns 21 consolidated subsidiaries around the world.[3]

History

The company was founded on March 21, 1969 and was officially incorporated under the name Konami Industry Co., Ltd. (コナミ工業株式会社, Konami Kōgyō Kabushiki Gaisha) on March 19, 1973.[6][7] The company's founder and current chairman, Kagemasa Kozuki, previously ran a jukebox rental and repair business in Toyonaka, Osaka before transforming the business into a manufacturer of amusement machines for video arcades. Their first coin-operated video game was released in 1978, and they began exporting products to the United States the following year.

Konami 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. They eventually established their U.S. subsidiary, Konami of America, Inc. in 1982. It was during this period that Konami began expanding their video game business into the home consumer market following a brief stint releasing video games for the Atari 2600 in 1982 for the U.S. market.[8] The company would release numerous games for the MSX home computer standard in 1983, followed by the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985.[9][10] Numerous Konami franchises were established during this period on both platforms, as well as the arcades, such as Gradius, Castlevania, Twin Bee, Ganbare Goemon, Contra and Metal Gear. Due to the success of their NES games, Konami's earnings grew from $10 million in 1987 to $300 million in 1991.[11]

In June 1991, Konami's legal name was changed to Konami Co., Ltd. (コナミ株式会社, Konami Kabushiki Gaisha) and their headquarters would later relocated to Minato, Tokyo in April 1993. The company started supporting the 16-bit video game consoles during this period, starting with the Super NES in 1990, followed by the PC Engine in 1991 and the Sega Genesis in 1992. The company also started branching into the pachinko and pachislot business in 1992 with the formation of Konami Parlor Entertainment.

After the launch of the Sega Saturn and PlayStation in 1994, Konami became a business divisional organization with the formation of various Konami Computer Entertainment (KCE) subsidiaries, starting with KCE Tokyo and KCE Osaka, which would be later known as KCE Studios. in April 1995, followed by KCE Japan (later known as Kojima Productions) in April 1996. Each KCE subsidiary would end up creating different intellectual properties such as KCE Tokyo's Silent Hill series and KCE Japan's Metal Gear Solid series (a revival of the MSX Metal Gear series). In 1997, Konami started producing rhythm games for the arcades under the Bemani brand and branched off into the collectable card game business with the launch of the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game.

On July 2000, the company's legal English name was changed once again to Konami Corporation, however, the Japanese legal name remained the same. As the company transitioned into the developing video games for the sixth-generation consoles, they also branched out into the health and fitness business with the acquisitions of People Co., Ltd and Daiei Olympic Sports Club, Inc., which became Konami subsidiaries. In August 2001, Konami invested in another video game developer, Hudson Soft, which became a consolidated subsidiary after Konami accepted new third-party shares issued by them. In March 2006, Konami merged all their video game development divisions into a new subsidiary known as Konami Digital Entertainment Co. (KDE for short), as the parent company became a pure holding company. Their headquarters would be relocated once again, this time to headquarters was moved to Minato, Tokyo, in 2007.

In April 2015, Konami delisted itself from the New York stock exchange following the dissolution of their Kojima Productions subsidiary.[12] In a translated interview with Nikkei Trendy Net published in the following month, the newly appointed CEO of Konami Digital Entertainment, Hideki Hayakawa announced that Konami will shift their focus towards mobile gaming, claiming that, "Mobile is where the future of gaming lies."[13] The trade name of the company was changed from Konami Corporation to Konami Holdings Corporation during the same month.[14] In 2016, Konami merged Konami Parlor Entertainment into Konami Amusement Co., Ltd. (their arcade division).

In 2017, Konami is to publicly announce that they would be reviving some of the company's other well-known video game titles following the success of their Nintendo Switch launch title Super Bomberman R.[15]

Corporate structure

Japan

Australia

America

Konami America booth at E3 2006

Europe

Asia

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.[26]

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 founded on March 31, 2006. 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), founded on October 1, 1996,[27] was dissolved along with Konami Computer Entertainment Kobe, Inc. (KCEK) in December 2002.[28]

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.[29][30]

On February 22, 2005, Konami Corporation announced Konami Media Entertainment, Inc. would merge into Konami Corporation, effective on March 1, 2005.[31] On March 11, 2005, Konami Corporation announced Konami Traumer, Inc would be merged back into Konami Corporation, effective on June 1, 2005.[32]

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.[33] On February 28, 2006, Konami Sports Corporation merged with its parent company, Konami Sports Life Corporation, and became Konami Sports Corporation.[34]

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.[35][36] On January 1, 2011, Abilit Corporation was renamed to Takasago Electric Industry Co.,Ltd.[37] 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.[38]

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.[39]

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), the dating simulation Tokimeki Memorial series, and football simulation Pro Evolution Soccer.

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.[40]

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. However, use of this code in more recent Konami productions has been sparse.

The company was widely criticised for distributing the PC retail release of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain with a disc containing an 8 MB Steam installer, leaving the player to download the 28 GB of game content.[41][42][43]

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.[44]

Criticism and controversy

In early 2015, following a series of controversial business decisions centered around the cancellation of Silent Hills and the subsequent departure of longtime developer Hideo Kojima as well as many other Konami employees, including Kojima's own production company, Konami became the object of intense criticism and scrutiny from both the video game community and video game news publishers.

Silent Hills cancellation

Silent Hills, set to be the ninth installment of the Silent Hill franchise, was abruptly cancelled on April 2015 without explanation despite the critical acclaim and success of P.T., a playable teaser.[45][46] Hours after the announcement, Konami delisted itself from the New York Stock Exchange.[12]

Game co-director and writer Guillermo del Toro publicly criticized the cancellation as not making any sense, and questioned what he described as a "scorched earth" approach to removing the trailer. Due to the experience, del Toro stated that he would never work on another video game.[47]

Kojima Productions

On March 3, 2015, Konami announced they would be shifting focus away from individual studios, notably Kojima Productions. Internal sources claimed the restructure was due to a clash between Hideo Kojima and Konami.[48][49] References to Hideo Kojima were soon stripped from marketing material, and Kojima's position as an Executive Vice President of Konami Digital Entertainment was removed from the company's official listing of executives.[50]

Later that year, Konami's legal department barred Hideo Kojima from accepting Best Action-Adventure for his work on Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain at The Game Awards 2015. When announced during the event, the audience booed in disapproval of Konami's actions. Host Geoff Keighley took a moment to express his disappointment in Konami's actions. After actor Kiefer Sutherland accepted the award in Kojima's stead, a choir played Quiet's Theme from The Phantom Pain as tribute to the absent Kojima.[51][52][53][54] Kojima left Konami several days afterwards, re-opening Kojima Productions as an independent company.

Treatment of employees and ex-employees

In August 2015, The Nikkei criticized Konami for its unethical treatment of employees.[55][56] In June 2017, The Nikkei further reported of Konami's continued clashes with Kojima Productions, preventing the studio's application for health insurance, as well as Konami's actions in making it difficult for former employees to get future jobs.[57][58]

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 https://www.konami.com/ir/en/financialinfo/sales.html
  2. ↑ KONAMI. "Shareholders Situation:As of March 31,2016 - KONAMI HOLDINGS CORPORATION". Retrieved 30 December 2016.
  3. 1 2 KONAMI. "Corporate Data - KONAMI HOLDINGS CORPORATION". Retrieved 30 December 2016.
  4. ↑ unknown (2015). "Top 25 gaming companies". newzoo. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  5. ↑ Kelvon Yeezy (2013). "The Stories Behind the Names of 15 Gaming Brands You Know". Hongkiat. Retrieved 21 June 2015.
  6. ↑ https://www.konami.com/corporate/en/data/
  7. ↑ "Konami History". IGN. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
  8. ↑ "Article 12—KONAMI CES BROCHURE (1983)". www.VIDEO-GAME-EPHEMERA.com.
  9. ↑ "MSX software catalog (1983-1986)". Konami Group Homepage (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 1996-11-08.
  10. ↑ "MSX software catalog (1987-1990)". Konami Group Homepage (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 1996-11-08.
  11. ↑ "75 Power Players". Next Generation. Imagine Media (11): 69. November 1995.
  12. 1 2 Brian Crecente. "Konami delists itself from New York Stock Exchange". Polygon.
  13. ↑ Crecente, Brian (2015-05-14). "Konami CEO: 'Mobile is where the future of gaming lies'". Polygon. Retrieved 2016-03-07.
  14. ↑ "Corporate History". Konami. Retrieved 2015-11-30.
  15. ↑ Zarra, Jonathan. "Super Bomberman R Sales Indicate That It’s The Best Selling In Its Franchise In Nearly 20 Years". Nintendork. Retrieved 15 March 2017.
  16. ↑ "KONAMI CORPORATION Announces that It will Make a Subsidiary (HUDSON SOFT CO., LTD.) Its Wholly Owned Subsidiary through Share Exchange" (PDF).
  17. ↑ "KONAMI CORPORATION Announces that It will Make DIGITAL GOLF Inc. Its Wholly Owned Subsidiary through Share Exchange" (PDF).
  18. ↑ 商号の変更及び定款の一部変更に関するお知らせ コナミ株式会社 2015年5月8日
  19. ↑ コナミ、10月1日付けで「コナミホールディングス」に商号を変更 INSIDE　2015年5月8日
  20. ↑ "KONAMI ESTABLISHES NEW COMPUTER & VIDEOGAMES OPERATION BASED IN LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA". Archived from the original on 2006-09-29.
  21. ↑ "Introducing Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH". Archived from the original on 2008-05-29.
  22. ↑ "About Us (English)".
  23. ↑ "About Us (Chinese)".
  24. ↑ "科乐美软件(上海)有限公司:公司简介".
  25. ↑ "KONAMI DIGITAL ENTERTAINMENT 회사 소개". Archived from the original on 2008-06-28.
  26. ↑ "Announcement of Group Restructuring (Merger Between Subsidiaries, Stock Exchange with subsidiary) and Shift to Holding Company Structure by Company Separation". Archived from the original on 2011-01-04.
  27. ↑ "Company Info". ＫＣＥ名古屋ホームページ. Konami Co., Ltd. Archived from the original on 3 December 2002. Retrieved 21 August 2010.
  28. ↑ "Consolidated Financial Results for the Third Quarter and the Nine Months Ended December 31, 2002" (PDF). Investor Relations. Konami Co., Ltd. 13 February 2003. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-01-04. Retrieved 21 August 2010.
  29. ↑ "Konami's Merger with Konami Online". Archived from the original on 2011-01-04.
  30. ↑ "Konami's Merger with its Subsidiaries". Archived from the original on 2011-01-04.
  31. ↑ "Konami – KME Merger Announcement". Archived from the original on 2011-01-04.
  32. ↑ "Announcement: Merger of Konami and Konami Traumer". Archived from the original on 2011-01-04.
  33. ↑ "Announcement of official agreement for group restructuring (merger between subsidiaries, share exchange with subsidiary) and shift to holding company structure by company separation".
  34. ↑ "Konami Sports & Life history". Archived from the original on 2008-04-22.
  35. ↑ "KONAMI CORPORATION to Acquire Abilit Corporation through Stock Swap". Reuters. Archived from the original on 2012-09-10.
  36. ↑ "Execution of Share Exchange Agreement by and between KONAMI CORPORATION and ABILIT CORPORATION" (PDF).
  37. ↑ "Abilit Corp.: Private Company Information – BusinessWeek".
  38. ↑ "Announcement of Share Acquisition of Megacyber Corporation".
  39. ↑ "Announcement of Merger of Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd. and Megacyber Corporation".
  40. ↑ "Saw videogame picked up by Konami?". 2009-02-05. Retrieved 2009-02-06.
  41. ↑ "Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain PC disc only contains Steam installer". VG247.com.
  42. ↑ "Metal Gear Solid V PC disc contains just the Steam installer". TechnoBuffalo.
  43. ↑ Julian Benson. "Metal Gear Solid V's PC Disc Doesn't Actually Have The Game On It". Kotaku UK.
  44. ↑ "Where did the Video Games site go?". Yahoo. Archived from the original on 2007-03-13.
  45. ↑ Smith, Dave. "What it's like to play the best game of 2014, which is about to disappear forever in 2 days". Business Insider. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
  46. ↑ Orland, Kyle. "Discontinued PS4 horror demo P.T. worth hundreds on eBay". Ars Technica. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
  47. ↑ Parfitt, Ben. "Del Toro says killing Silent Hills 'makes no f***ing sense'". MCV. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  48. ↑ "Announcing Official Organizational Restructuring and Personnel Changes".
  49. ↑ Ollie, Barder. "Understanding What Has Really Happened At Konami". Forbes. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  50. ↑ Kain, Erik. "Konami Cuts Hideo Kojima From 'Metal Gear' Promo Materials". Forbes. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  51. ↑ Tach, Dave. "Konami prevented Kojima from attending the Video Game Awards, host says". Polygon. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
  52. ↑ Matulef, Jeffrey. "Konami blocked Hideo Kojima from attending The Game Awards". Euro Gamer. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
  53. ↑ Klepek, Patrick. "Geoff Keighley: Konami Barred Hideo Kojima From Accepting Metal Gear Award". Kotaku. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
  54. ↑ Skipper, Ben. "The Game Awards: Hideo Kojima banned from attending by Konami as show pays tribute". International Business Times. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  55. ↑ "コナミ、カリスマ経営のほころび". The Nikkei. 3 August 2015.
  56. ↑ Good, Owen S. "Japanese report says Konami is a deeply unhappy workplace". Polygon. Retrieved 7 July 2016.
  57. ↑ "コナミを去るクリエーターたち　王国の遠心力". The Nikkei. 12 June 2017.
  58. ↑ "The Konami exodus". Nikkei Asian Review. 14 June 2017.

References

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