About
Konami Group Corporation (Japanese: コナミグループ株式会社, Hepburn: Konami Gurūpu kabushiki-gaisha), commonly known as Konami (コナミ; stylized in all caps), is a Japanese multinational entertainment company, video game developer and publisher headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo. The company also produces and distributes trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, pachinko machines, slot machines, and arcade cabinets; It has casinos around the world, and operates health and physical fitness clubs across Japan.
The company founded in 1969 as a jukebox rental and repair business in Toyonaka, Osaka, Japan, founded by Kagemasa Kōzuki, who remains the company's chairman. On top of its flagship development subsidiary, Konami also owns Bemani, known for Dance Dance Revolution and Beatmania, as well as the assets of former game developer Hudson Soft, known for Bomberman, Adventure Island, Bonk, Bloody Roar, and Star Soldier. Konami is the sixteenth-largest game company in the world by revenue.
The company also publishes the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game, one of the best-selling TCGs in history. Konami's video game franchises include Metal Gear, Silent Hill, Power Pros, Bomberman, Castlevania, Contra, Frogger, Tokimeki Memorial, Gradius, Parodius, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Suikoden, and eFootball (including its predecessors International Superstar Soccer and Pro Evolution Soccer).
From Wikipedia’s article on Kagemasa Kozuki, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2
Companies
Early life and education
- Date not recordedKansai University3
Career
Occupation: businessperson.6
Konami Group is headquartered in Tokyo. In the United States, Konami manages its digital/arcade/trading card game business from Hawthorne, California, and its casino gaming business from Paradise, Nevada. Its Australian gaming operations are in Sydney. As of September 2026, it owns 26 consolidated subsidiaries around the world.
Japan
Konami Group Corporation: holding company and HQ.
Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd.: planning, production, publishing, development, and sales of mobile games, home games, card games, music and video software, and merchandise.
Konami Arcade Games Co., Ltd.: production, manufacturing, and sales of arcade machines.
Konami Sports Co., Ltd.
Konami Amusement Co., Ltd.: production, manufacturing, and sales of pachinko and pachislot machines.
Konami Gaming Technology Co., Ltd.
Konami Business Expert Co., Ltd.
Konami Animation: anime studio of Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd.
Kōzuki Foundation
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America
Konami Gaming, Inc. in Paradise, Nevada
Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc.: former American holding company, formerly Konami of America Inc., Konami Corporation of America. On 13 October 2003, Konami Corporation of Redwood City, California, announced it was expanding its operations to El Segundo, California, under the new name of Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. The Redwood City operations have since been consolidated to El Segundo in 2007 and moved to Hawthorne, California, in 2021.
Konami Cross Media NY
Konami Corporation of America: U.S.-based holding company.
Europe
Konami Digital Entertainment B.V.: European regional branch for publishing and distribution of Konami products.
Asia-Pacific
Konami Digital Entertainment Ltd. (科樂美數碼娛樂有限公司): established in September 1994 as Konami (Hong Kong) Limited. Korea and Singapore divisions were established in October 2000. In June 2001, the company changed name to Konami Marketing (Asia) Ltd. (科樂美行銷(亞洲)有限公司). In March 2006, the company was renamed Konami Digital Entertainment Limited.
Konami Australia Pty. Ltd. (established in 1996)
Konami Digital Entertainment
Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd. (株式会社コナミデジタルエンタテインメント, Kabushiki-gaisha Konami Dejitaru Entateinmento) is Konami's Japanese video game development and publishing subsidiary founded on 31 March 2006. On 7 November 2005, Konami Corporation announced restructuring Konami Corporation into a holding company, by moving its Japanese Digital Entertainment Business segment under Konami Corporation. The Digital Entertainment Business became Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd. The newly established Konami Corporation was expected to begin operation on 31 March 2006. Before Konami Corporation had formally changed to a holding company in 2006, various forms of Konami Digital Entertainment companies had been established either as holding company or publisher. The last of the company, the Japan-based Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd., was split from Konami Corporation during the holding company restructuring process.
Subsidiaries
Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc.: North American division, established on 13 October 2003.
Konami Cross Media NY
Konami Digital Entertainment B.V.: European division, established on 1 April 2003.
Konami Digital Entertainment Limited: Hong Kong division. Established in September 1994 as Konami (Hong Kong) Limited. In March 2006, it was renamed to Konami Digital Entertainment Limited.
Konami Animation: anime studio established in 2023.
Former subsidiaries
Konami Computer Entertainment Nagoya, Inc. (KCEN), founded on 1 October 1996, was dissolved along with Konami Computer Entertainment Kobe, Inc. (KCEK) in December 2002. On 16 December 2004, Konami Corporation announced Konami Online, Inc., Konami Computer Entertainment Studios, Inc., Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo, Inc. and Konami Computer Entertainment Japan, Inc. would merge into Konami Corporation, effective on 1 April 2005. On 22 February 2005, Konami Corporation announced Konami Media Entertainment, Inc. would merge into Konami Corporation, effective on 1 March 2005.
On 11 March 2005, Konami Corporation announced Konami Traumer, Inc would be merged back into Konami Corporation, effective on 1 June 2005.
On 5 January 2006, Konami announced the merger of Konami Sports Corporation merged with its parent company, Konami Sports Life Corporation. The parent would be dissolved under the merger, and Konami Sports would become the wholly owned subsidiary of Konami Corporation after share exchange between KC and KS. After the share exchange, KS would be renamed Konami Sports & Life Co., Ltd. On 28 February 2006, Konami Sports Corporation merged with its parent company, Konami Sports Life Corporation, and became Konami Sports Corporation. On 21 September 2010, Konami Corporation announced it has signed an agreement to acquire with Abilit Corporation via share exchange. After the transaction, Abilit Corporation became a wholly owned subsidiary of Konami Corporation, effective 1 January 2011. On 1 January 2011, Abilit Corporation was renamed to Takasago Electric Industry Co., Ltd. As part of the acquisition, Biz Share Corporation also became a subsidiary of Konami Corporation.
Megacyber Corporation
On 2 October 2006, Konami Corporation announced it had completed the acquisition of mobile phone content developer Megacyber Corporation. On 6 February 2007, Konami Corporation announced Megacyber Corporation to be merged into Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd., with Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd. being the surviving company, effective on 1 April 2007.
Hudson Soft
On 1 April 2011, Konami acquired video game developer Hudson Soft, a company in which Konami had held a controlling stake since 11 April 2005. On 1 March 2012, Hudson Soft merged with Konami Digital Entertainment, with the latter emerging as the surviving entity.
From Wikipedia’s article on Kagemasa Kozuki (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.
Personal life
Legal issues and controversies
Kojima Productions
On 3 March 2015, Konami announced it would be shifting focus away from individual studios, notably Kojima Productions. Internal sources claimed the restructure was due to a clash between Hideo Kojima and Konami. References to Kojima were soon stripped from marketing material, and Kojima's position as an executive vice president of Konami Digital Entertainment was removed from the company's official listing of executives.
Later that year, Konami's legal department barred Kojima from accepting the award for Best Action-Adventure for his work on Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain at The Game Awards 2015. When announced during the event, the audience booed in disapproval of Konami's actions. Host Geoff Keighley expressed his disappointment in Konami's actions. After actor Kiefer Sutherland accepted the award in Kojima's stead, a choir sang "Quiet's Theme" from The Phantom Pain as a tribute to the absent Kojima. Kojima left Konami several days afterwards, re-opening Kojima Productions as an independent studio to produce Death Stranding.
Silent Hills and reduced video game development
Silent Hills, set to be the ninth installment of the Silent Hill video game series, was abruptly cancelled in April 2015 without explanation despite the critical acclaim and success of P.T., a playable teaser. Hours after the announcement, Konami delisted itself from the New York Stock Exchange. Game co-director and writer Guillermo del Toro publicly criticized the cancellation as not making any sense and questioned what he described as a "scorched earth" approach to removing the trailer. Due to the experience, del Toro stated that he would never work on another video game.
In 2015, Konami Digital Entertainment CEO Hideki Hayakawa announced that, with few exceptions, Konami would stop making console games and instead focus on the mobile gaming platform. The decision was heavily criticized by the video gaming community. Konami UK community manager Graham Day soon after pushed back against the reporting that Konami would cease AAA game production, stating that he believed the root of the problem to be either a mistranslation or a misinterpretation of Hayakawa's remarks.
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Treatment of employees and ex-employees
In August 2015, The Nikkei criticized Konami for its unethical treatment of employees. In June 2017, The Nikkei further reported on Konami's continued clashes with Kojima Productions, preventing the studio's application for health insurance, as well as Konami's actions in making it difficult for former employees to get future jobs; they are notably forbidden from mentioning their work with Konami on their résumés. Konami also started filing complaints against other game companies that hired ex-Konami employees, leading to an unspecified major game company warning its staff against doing so. A former employee of Konami stated: "If an ex-[Konami employee] is interviewed by the media, the company will send that person a letter through a legal representative, in some cases indicating that Konami is willing to take them to court"; it also pressured an ex-employee into closing their new business.
From Wikipedia’s article on Kagemasa Kozuki (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.
Awards
Sources
The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.
- 1WikidataKagemasa Kozuki on Wikidata
- 2WikipediaKagemasa Kozuki on Wikipedia
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- 10WikidataKonami, Founder