On January 30th, Bandai Namco Entertainment announced that Namco founder Masaya Nakamura, who led the arcade market in the early 80s, died at the age of 91.

Nakamura founded Nakamura Manufacturing in 1955, which made children's toys such as kiddie horses. Later on, it changed its name to Namco in the 70s and entered the gaming industry. In the 80s, the company launched a series of iconic hits such as Galaxian, Pac-Man, Galaga, and Xevious, which all led the golden age of Namco.

Spearheaded by Toru Iwatani in the 80s, Namco’s Pac-Man was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the most successful coin-operated arcade game in the 2000s. In 2012, the game was also named one of the 100 greatest games by the New York Times.

In 2006, Namco merged with Bandai to form Bandai Namco Games and later changed its name to Bandai Namco Entertainment.