Masaya Nakamura (businessman)
| Masaya Nakamura | |
|---|---|
| Born |
24 December 1925 Tokyo, Japan |
| Died | 22 January 2017 (aged 91) |
| Nationality | Japanese |
| Awards |
Order of the Rising Sun (4th Class, Gold Rays with Rosette) 
|
Masaya Nakamura (中村 雅哉?, 24 December 1925 – 22 January 2017) was a Japanese businessman and founder of Namco, initially an amusement ride manufacturing company, but which grew under Nakamura's leadership into the third largest video game developing entity in Japan during the 1970s and 1980s. Nakamura helped to usher in Namco's growing video game division for arcade games, leading to numerous successes including Toru Iwatani's Pac-Man (1980), which remains one of the highest-grossing arcade games worldwide; for his leadership in directing the company to this success, Nakamura is considered "the father of Pac-Man".
Nakamura stepped down as Namco's CEO in 2002 and took a ceremonial role in the company's management, three years before Namco merged with Bandai, forming Bandai Namco. Nakamura was awarded the "Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette" by the Japanese government in 2007 for his contributions to Japanese industry.
Nakamura was born on 24 December 1925. He graduated from Yokohama Institute of Technology in 1948, having studied shipbuilding. In 1955, in the wake of Japan's economic recovery from World War II, he then founded Nakamura Manufacturing, a company which created kiddie rides for department stores. In one such business deal, Nakamura secured a deal with the department store chain Mitsukoshi in the early 1960s to install a ride on the building's rooftop. The ride was very popular and Mitsukoshi commissioned Nakamura's company to install similar rides across all their stores. The company was renamed Nakamura Manufacturing Company, and later shortened to Namco.
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