Shinji Yamazaki

Overview

Shinji Yamazaki (山崎伸治) was a Japanese businessman that worked at an advertising agency before he joined Nihon Falcom in the late 1980s and became a director at the company in 1992 [1][3]. Later, in 1996, Yamazaki became the managing director of the whole company where he was also responsible for licensing Falcom's properties to other publishers [1][3]. During the new millennium, Falcom reorganized itself and Shinji Yamazaki was promoted to the role of president in November 2001 after the company's founder, Masayuki Kato, stepped down to be a chairman [1]. Yamazaki didn't know a lot about the technical side of game development but he still helped guided Falcom through many tumultuous periods [6]. During his time as managing director, Yamazaki helped get Falcom's games licensed for release in countries like South Korea and Taiwan [4]. He also saw the company transition into developing games for Windows 95 after it had spent decades creating titles for the PC-88 and 98. As president, he made the fateful decision to begin publishing games for the PlayStation Portable as the PC market began to dwindle in Japan [5]. However, in 2007 Yamazaki retired as president of Falcom due to health issues and was succeeded by Toshihiro Kondo [6].

External Links

1. Shinji Yamazaki Bloomberg Profile
2. Interview: Shinji Yamazaki (President of Nihon Falcom) (Diehard Game Fan, 2006)
3. Official Company Profile (1997, 1998)
4. Yamazaki's Person in Charge Column
5. Translated Bahamut Interview with Toshihiro Kondo about Sen no Kiseki II and the Future of Falcom by Kirsten Miller (Endless History, 2014) - Kondo states that Yamazaki was the one that decided to shift towards handheld development.
6. Interview between Masayuki Kato and Toshihiro Kondo (Denfaminicogamer, 2018) - Mentions that Yamazaki wasn't a technically minded person.
7. Falcom Holds "Zwei !! Online" Production Presentation at ICON 2007 (Game Watch Impress, 2007).
8. Nihon Falcom Shareholders' Meeting Part 1 (Makonako, 2007).
9. Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure Interview (IGN, 2006) - English interview with Shinji Yamazaki.