We got video game legends like Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto, Hideo Kojima, and Namco's Masaya Nakamura. Nakamura, however, one of the greatest contributors in the video games industry has just passed away.
Based on recent reports by Gamespot, Namco's industry founder has been confirmed to pass away at the age of 91 on Jan. 22.
For a little bit on the history of Namco's founder, Masaya Nakamura had just graduated from Yokohama National University when he first founded the Nakamura Manufacturing, a company that mass-produced amusement rides for children, in 1955. The company was later renamed to Nakamura Amusement Machine Manufacturing Company, which was abbreviated to Namco. After the direction of producing amusement rides for children, the Nakamura Amusement Machine Manufacturing Company, or Namco, later focused on the video games market, starting off in creating its first video game, a coin-operated mechanical driving simulator called "Racer". Then it went on to later legendary arcade games like "Pac-Man," "Ridge Racer" and "Galaga," to name a few.
Around 2005, Namco decided to merge with its partner, Bandai, to form Bandai Namco, with Nakamura himself taking the position as chairman and supreme advisor of the company's Entertainment branch (thanks to Japan Times for the information). A couple of years later, the founder of Namco was awarded by the Japanese Government itself the "Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette" in 2007 for his contributions to Japanese industry.
Nakamura was undoubtedly one of the most influential figures in the video game industry, offering joy and creativity worldwide. The announcement of his passing was confirmed by Bandai Namco itself today, but the studio has requested for the respect for his family's privacy. While his funeral and wake are being held in private, the company still plans to hold a separate public memorial service for the video game industry legend.
Our condolences for his family.
