Masayuki Kato

Overview

Masayuki Kato (加藤正幸) is the founder of Nihon Falcom and a former Japanese computer engineer that worked in the automotive industry. Born in 1946, Kato began his professional career working for Hino Motors after graduating from college where he worked as a system engineer. Eventually he was assigned to a position in Bangkok, Thailand where he helped establish a new department for the company. During his time in Bangkok, Kato was introduced to the Apple II personal computer while attending a convention. The power and accessibility of the product greatly impressed Kato so he purchased his own Apple II and began creating games for his son by modifying codes for games printed in the pages of Japanese computer magazines. This experience inspired Kato to quite his job at Hino Motors to found Nihon Falcom on March 9, 1981. After doing business analysis for different projects, Kato opened an officially authorized Apple retail store in Tachikawa, Tokyo called Computer Land Tachikawa in July 1981. Over time the store attracted hobbyist programmers who began working with Falcom in 1982 to publish software they had created, leading to Falcom's first published video game called Galactic Wars 1. Over time Nihon Falcom would become a full-time video game developer where they released many blockbuster successes in the early years of the Japanese PC game industry, including Dragon Slayer, Xanadu, Ys, The Legend of Heroes and many others. Kato would serve as the company's president for many years until November 2001 when Nihon Falcom went through a restructure where the game development team was split off into its own division. During this restructure, Shinji Yamazaki became the new president of the company and Masayuki Kato stepped down to become a chairman at Falcom, a position he still holds to this day.

References

1. Entertainment Station Three Part Interview with Masayuki Kato Conducted by Fumio Kurokawa - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 (2017).
2. Interview between Masayuki Kato and Toshihiro Kondo (Denfaminicogamer, 2018)
3. The Prehistory of Nihon Falcom by Kevin Gifford (1up, 2011)
4. Can "Game Music" be Enjoyed even if you are not Playing the Game? I asked Nihon Falcom (Phile Web, 2015)