. for other uses see konami disambiguation . this article needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . august 2009 learn how and when to remove this template message konami holdings corporation konami headquarters in tokyo midtown native name type public traded as tyo 9766 otc pink knmcy lse knm industry video games entertainment industry health and fitness casinos pachinko and pachislot founded march 21 1969 ; 47 years ago 1969 03 21 osaka japan founder kagemasa kozuki headquarters tokyo midtown minato tokyo japan area served global key people kagemasa kozuki chairman takuya kozuki president products list of konami games revenue 15 995 million april 1 2013 march 31 2014 1 operating income 10 905 million april 1 2013 march 31 2014 1 net income 12 170 million april 1 2013 march 31 2014 1 owner kozuki family 2 number of employees 4 578 2016 3 website konami holdings corporation konami holdings corporation japanese hepburn konami h rudingusu kabushiki gaisha commonly referred to as konami ; tyo 9766 otc pink knmcy is a japanese entertainment company . it operates as a product distributor which produces and distributes trading cards anime tokusatsu slot machines and arcade cabinets video game developer and publisher company . it also operates health and physical fitness clubs in japan . konami is famous for popular video game series such as castlevania contra dance dance revolution gradius frogger suikoden ganbare goemon metal gear mirmo beatmania iidx pro evolution soccer boktai silent hill yu gi oh and sound voltex . the 2012 purchase and absorption of hudson soft resulted in the addition of several other popular franchises including adventure island bonk bloody roar bomberman far east of eden and star soldier . konami is the twentieth largest game company in the world by revenue . 4 the company was founded in 1969 as a jukebox rental and repair business in toyonaka osaka japan by kagemasa k zuki who remains the company s chairman . the name konami ko n mi ; japanese pronunciation k . n . m is a conjunction of the names kagemasa kozuki yoshinobu nakama and tatsuo miyasako . 5 konami is currently headquartered in tokyo . in the united states konami manages its video game business from offices in el segundo california and its casino gaming business from offices in paradise nevada . its australian gaming operations are located in sydney . as of march 2016 it owns 21 consolidated subsidiaries around the world 6 contents 1 history 1.1 1969 1979 1.2 1980s 1.3 1990s 1.4 2000s 1.5 2010s 2 corporate structure 2.1 japan 2.2 australia 2.3 america 2.4 europe 2.5 asia 2.6 konami digital entertainment 2.6.1 divisions 2.7 former subsidiaries 2.7.1 konami computer entertainment tokyo 2.7.2 konami computer entertainment japan 2.7.3 megacyber corporation 2.8 distribution of konami s games in australia 3 video games 4 marketing 4.1 film production 5 criticism and controversy 5.1 silent hills cancellation 5.2 kojima productions 6 see also 7 notes 8 references 9 external links history edit 1969 1979 edit march 21 1969 kagemasa kozuki current chairman founded a jukebox rental repair business in toyonaka osaka . 7 march 19 1973 kozuki transformed the business into konami industry co. ltd. 7 and began work on manufacturing amusement machines for arcades . their first actual game machine was not created until 1978 and they began exporting products to the united states the following year . they began to achieve success with hit arcade games such as 1981 s frogger scramble and super cobra many of which were licensed to other companies for stateside release including stern electronics and gremlin industries . 1980s edit may 1980 konami moved their headquarters to toyonaka osaka . march 1981 the konami logo was established . a new logo with the name in italics was released in 1986 and was altered in 1998 from italics to roman text . in 2003 konami introduced a new logo for the company s 30th anniversary . the company also introduced the new tagline bikkuri surprise in japanese which is marketed as be creative . 8 october 1982 konami began manufacturing and selling pc games . november 1982 konami of america inc. currently konami digital entertainment inc. was established in torrance california . it relocated to buffalo grove illinois in 1984 and in 1999 it relocated again to redwood city california leaving the location in illinois open strictly for the manufacturing of konami s arcade video games . in 2003 konami of america closed down their arcade division due to heavy losses ; the entire buffalo grove illinois location was shut down along with it . all machine inquiries and new machines would thereafter be handled by betson enterprises . as of 2007 konami corporation of america has moved its u.s head office once again from redwood city to konami digital entertainment s office in el segundo california . november 1983 konami began producing msx games . they would go on to become one of the most prolific game developer to support the platform during the next seven years releasing a total of 70 titles on both the original msx and the msx2 . 9 10 their msx games included titles such as antarctic adventure released in north america on the colecovision the knightmare trilogy the gradius series which was titled nemesis in europe and vampire killer a version of the original castlevania . most notably hideo kojima s earliest games the original metal gear snatcher also released on the pc 8801 and metal gear 2 solid snake were all released on the msx2 . may 1984 konami ltd. currently konami digital entertainment b.v. was established in the united kingdom . in october 1984 konami was listed on the second section of the osaka securities exchange specially designated stocks in the second section . subsequent stock listings include second section of the tokyo stock exchange 2 1988 london stock exchange 9 1999 new york stock exchange 9 2002 and the nikkei stock average nikkei 225 10 2003 . in december 1984 konami gmbh currently konami digital entertainment gmbh was established in germany . april 1985 konami began manufacturing and selling family computer famicom video games . this new business was in addition to their arcade market from which many games were later ported . konami began to achieve great success when the famicom took off being released in the united states as the nintendo entertainment system nes . many of the nes famicom s bestselling titles were produced by konami including gradius the castlevania series the contra series and metal gear . konami was one of the most active and prolific third party development studios for the nes which led to conflict with nintendo of america s licensing restrictions . during the heyday of the nes nintendo of america controlled the production of all licensed nes software titles and limited third party developers to a maximum of five titles per year . several companies found a way around this restriction by founding quasi independent subsidiary corporations effectively doubling the number of games that they could release during the year . in the case of konami this subsidiary was known as ultra games and many of konami titles were published in north america under their banner including metal gear gyruss skate or die the first two teenage mutant ninja turtles games and snake s revenge a sequel to the original metal gear made specifically for the western market . in europe faced with a similar restriction placed by nintendo s european branch konami established palcom software ltd. to the same end . by the early 1990s nintendo of america had relaxed many of its licensing restrictions and no longer needed ultra was reabsorbed into konami s official american branch in 1992 . december 1987 konami kosan co. ltd. currently konami real estate inc. was established . chiefly due to the success of their nes games konami s earnings grew from 10 million in 1987 to 300 million in 1991 . 11 1990s edit may 1991 konami technology development center currently amusement content business s kobe office opened in kobe . june 1991 konami industries co. ltd. was enamed to konami co. ltd. november 1991 konami started releasing games for the pc engine . notable titles include snatcher cd romantic dracula x chi no rondo and tokimeki memorial june 1992 konami set up tokyo headquarters . december 1992 konami started releasing games for the mega drive genesis in north america . notable titles include rocket knight adventures castlevania bloodlines and contra hard corps . 1993 konami headquarters was moved from kobe to tokyo . september 1994 konami hong kong limited currently konami digital entertainment limited was established in hong kong . december 1994 konami entered the playstation video game business . april 1995 konami computer entertainment osaka co. ltd. currently konami computer entertainment osaka inc. and konami computer entertainment tokyo co. ltd. currently konami computer entertainment tokyo inc. were established . may 1995 konami entered the sega saturn game business . in december 1995 konami music entertainment co. ltd. current konami music entertainment inc. was established . april 1996 konami computer entertainment japan co. ltd. current konami computer entertainment japan inc. and konami service co. ltd. current konami service inc. were established . may 1996 konami shifted to a business divisional organization . october 1996 konami finance co. ltd. current konami capital inc. was established . november 1996 holding company konami corporation of america was established in the u.s. and konami australia pty ltd. was established in australia . january 1997 konami gaming inc. was established in the united states . march 1997 amusement content business plant was constructed in kobe . konami computer entertainment school co. ltd. currently konami school inc. was established . october 1997 konami entered the gaming machine market in australia . november 1997 konami was listed on the singapore exchange . a european company konami europe b.v. currently konami digital entertainment b.v. was established in the netherlands . 1998 konami released dance dance revolution a dance simulation game that revolutionized the music game industry . december 1999 the official registered address of konami s headquarters was changed from kobe to tokyo . in january 2000 konami received a licence of manufacturing and sales of gaming machines from the u.s. state of nevada . in june 2000 konami software shanghai inc. was established . in july 2000 konami co. ltd. was renamed to konami corporation . 2000s edit september 21 2000 konami and universal studios announced that they had entered an agreement that would enable konami to publish a crash bandicoot game for next generation game systems playstation 2 and xbox with universal interactive vivendi games handling the production of the games . october 2000 konami marketing inc. was established and began operations . february 2001 people co. ltd. later renamed konami sports & life co. ltd. became konami s subsidiary through a friendly tob takeover bid and konami entered the health & fitness business . may 14 2001 konami made a deal with universal interactive to team up by producing and distributing more titles in addition to crash bandicoot series . august 2001 konami invested in hudson soft co. ltd. and made it an affiliated company . october 2001 konami entered the toy candy business . february 2002 konami entered the xbox game business . konami sports corporation acquired the shares of daiei olympic sports club inc. currently konami olympic sports club corporation which would be merged by konami sports corporation in october 2002 and became konami s subsidiary . august 2002 konami s headquarters was moved from minato to chiyoda tokyo . 2003 konami teamed up with the japanese film production company toho company ltd. in creating their own genre of tokusatsu tv series known as the chouseishin series in attempt to emulate and rival the success of toei s super sentai genre . 12 2005