Uploaded December 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Masaya Nakamura was born on December 24th of 1925 in Tokyo, Japan. He graduated in 1948 from Yokohama Institute of Technology. In June of 1955, Nakamura founded Nakamura Seisakusho and began creating coin-operated rides for department store rooftops across Japan. The starting point for Nakamura Seisakusho consisted of two mechanical horses on the roof of the Matsuya department store in Yokohama. He broke into the arcade industry in 1974 after purchasing the Japanese branch of Atari Inc. and releasing popular Atari games throughout Japan through his company, which was now named NAMCO. Under Nakamura’s leadership, NAMCO expanded its business endeavors to amusement facilities, theme parks, arcade games, and home video game software. One of these ventures was the maze-action video game phenomenon known as PAC-MAN. This simple yet enticing game exploded in popularity and Nakamura assisted each step of the way, quickly becoming known as “The Father of PAC-MAN” and a forerunner in the video game industry. After years of indispensable contributions to the amusement industry led by Nakamura, NAMCO merged with renowned toy manufacturer, BANDAI Co., and became the Bandai Namco Group. Thanks to Nakamura’s strong commitment to building a global entertainment company, the Bandai Namco companies continue to follow his founding philosophy of having pride in creating fun and fulfilling dreams for our audiences. Today, Bandai Namco Holdings has a market cap of roughly $13.9 Billion and growing.
Mr. Nakamura was also an honorary member of the Tokyo Chamber of Commerce and Industry and a Senior Advisor in the Japan Amusement Machine and Marketing Association. He earned many awards during his tenure at NAMCO:
the “Blue Ribbon Medal of Honor” in Japan in 1986,
the “MITI Minister’s Award for Individual Contribution to the Promotion of Informatization” in 1997,
the “Order of the Rising Sun Gold Rays with Rosette” in 2007,
and the “Court Rank: Junior Fifth Rank (investiture)” in 2017.
Masaya Nakamura was born on December 24th of 1925 in Tokyo, Japan. He graduated in 1948 from Yokohama Institute of Technology. In June of 1955, Nakamura founded Nakamura Seisakusho and began creating coin-operated rides for department store rooftops across Japan. The starting point for Nakamura Seisakusho consisted of two mechanical horses on the roof of the Matsuya department store in Yokohama. He broke into the arcade industry in 1974 after purchasing the Japanese branch of Atari Inc. and releasing popular Atari games throughout Japan through his company, which was now named NAMCO. Under Nakamura’s leadership, NAMCO expanded its business endeavors to amusement facilities, theme parks, arcade games, and home video game software. One of these ventures was the maze-action video game phenomenon known as PAC-MAN. This simple yet enticing game exploded in popularity and Nakamura assisted each step of the way, quickly becoming known as “The Father of PAC-MAN” and a forerunner in the video game industry. After years of indispensable contributions to the amusement industry led by Nakamura, NAMCO merged with renowned toy manufacturer, BANDAI Co., and became the Bandai Namco Group. Thanks to Nakamura’s strong commitment to building a global entertainment company, the Bandai Namco companies continue to follow his founding philosophy of having pride in creating fun and fulfilling dreams for our audiences. Today, Bandai Namco Holdings has a market cap of roughly $13.9 Billion and growing.
Mr. Nakamura was also an honorary member of the Tokyo Chamber of Commerce and Industry and a Senior Advisor in the Japan Amusement Machine and Marketing Association. He earned many awards during his tenure at NAMCO:
the “Blue Ribbon Medal of Honor” in Japan in 1986,
the “MITI Minister’s Award for Individual Contribution to the Promotion of Informatization” in 1997,
the “Order of the Rising Sun Gold Rays with Rosette” in 2007,
and the “Court Rank: Junior Fifth Rank (investiture)” in 2017.
