Later expanding into the amusement park business, Sennichimae Plabo was opened in Osaka, featuring a new concept of large-scale arcade amusement, and Namco Wonder Eggs, a theme park, was opened in Tokyo. In addition, Nakamura announced that Namco would support Sega's Mega Drive/Genesis console. However, upon renewal of the license, these special terms were revoked, prompting Nakamura to publicly criticize Nintendo for monopolistic behavior. As Nintendo's first licensee, Namco had previously been given privileged terms, such as the right to manufacture their own cartridges. Nakajima and Wood then resigned from Namco to head Atari Games.īy 1989, games for the Nintendo Entertainment System accounted for forty percent of Namco's sales. Nakajima grew increasingly frustrated with his boss, and in 1987 the two arrived at a means to part ways: Namco would sell part of its interest in Atari Games to Nakajima and the Atari Games employees, and the rest back to Warner. Nakamura also resented sharing ownership of Atari Games with Warner. Back in Japan, Namco still held distribution rights for Atari's games, and Nakamura refused to sell them to other arcades. Nakamura considered Atari to be a competitor. Disagreement over how to run the Atari Games subsidiary led to a falling out between Nakamura and Nakajima. Namco America acquired a controlling interest in Atari Games for $10 million, against the advice of their accountants at Price Waterhouse. ![]() In 1985, after the video game crash, and after previously having been sold to Warner Communications, Atari had been split into two corporate entities: Atari Corporation, which took over the home computer and console hardware business and Atari Games, which retained the arcade game business. Namco America existed mainly to license Namco's games to companies such as Atari and Midway Games for distribution in the U.S. At the time, games were not released in the U.S. The location he chose was across the street from Atari's former headquarters in Sunnyvale, California. Nakajima was promoted to vice president in 1978, and on his recommendation Namco opened a subsidiary, Namco America, in the United States. Nakamura would follow up by opening video arcades featuring Atari games. Debts inherited from Atari Japan would take Nakamura two years to pay off, but the deal had also secured for him an exclusive license to distribute Atari's games in Japan for ten years. The deal was finalized at $500,000 and Bushnell was glad to take it. Nakamura put in a bid for $800,000 and shocked others out of competition. Sega, then a manufacturer of pinball machines, offered to acquire Atari Japan for $50,000. Though Nakajima wanted to try saving Atari Japan, owner Nolan Bushnell was already struggling to keep the parent company afloat due to undercapitalization and was looking to sell the Japanese subsidiary for some badly-needed cash. Nakajima claims that employees had been stealing money and that he had contributed funds from his personal savings in order to pay creditors and stave off bankruptcy. General manager Hide Nakajima was left in charge of the company after his boss had quit. ![]() In 1970 the company produced a coin-operated mechanical driving simulator called "Racer".Ītari Japan, the Tokyo-based subsidiary of Atari, was struggling financially by 1974. Nakamura Manufacturing was reorganized in 1958 and underwent a slight name change to Nakamura Manufacturing Co., which would later be used to form the acronym Namco. The business eventually expanded throughout the Tokyo area. Based in Tokyo, the company started out by running children's rides on the roof of a department store in Yokohama. Masaya Nakamura founded the company as Nakamura Manufacturing in 1955. Pac-Man, its most famous title, went on to become the best-selling arcade game in history and an international popular culture icon. Namco was a forerunner during the Golden age of video arcade games. Its headquarters are located in Ōta, Tokyo. was re-established to continue domestic operation of video arcades and amusement parks. Following a merger with Bandai in September 2005, the two companies' game production assets were spun off into Namco Bandai Games on March 31, 2006. (株式会社ナムコ, Kabushiki Kaisha Namuko?) is a Japanese corporation best known as a former video game developer and publisher. ![]()
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