Koei Tecmo

Company Origins

Tecmo was originally founded in September of 1964 as Teikoku Kanzai, meaning Imperial Custodianship, specializing in cleaning supplies and building maintenance. In October of 1977, the company shorted its name to Tehkan and eventually changed its business to amusement machines, making and selling things such as UFO catchers and pachinko machines, and later arcade machines.

Before the business change, there was another company that specialized in yachts and other boats named Japan Yacht Ltd. established on July 7, 1967. This company also dove into electronics with arcade games and eventually changed its name to Tehkan Electronics Ltd. on December 6, 1982, and shorted it to just Tehkan Ltd. on April 19, 1985.

Two months later, both Tehkan companies combined into one with the new company's main focus becoming arcade games while still creating other amusement machines. Since the company became primarily known for its video games, the founding date is normally cited with the Japan Yacht Ltd.'s establishment. On January 8, 1986, the company officially changed its name to Tecmo.

Game History

Tecmo's first arcade game it developed was Pleiads in 1980 and brought over to the West by Centuri in 1981. Tecmo continued to make arcade games like Swimmer and Star Force, and in 1984 released their first console game, Guzzler, on the Sega SG-1000. The first Tecmo games to hit a main competitor console were Star Force and Bomb Jack for the NES in 1984, and the first game made exclusively for a console was Tsuppari Oozumou for the NES in 1987.

Merger With Koei

On August 29, 2008, it was announced that Square Enix Co. Ltd. placed an offer to purchase a majority stake of Tecmo in a deal which would be worth over $200 US million dollars. However, Tecmo declined the offer from Square Enix, announcing that it was in talks to merge with fellow Japanese developer KOEI Co. Ltd.

KOEI and Tecmo announced the official plan for merging on January 26, 2009, and officially merged on April 1 of the same year. As of April 1, 2010, Tecmo of Japan has been officially disbanded. The merger was reported to be worth $207.2 million in stock when they became Koei Tecmo Co., Ltd. (referred to in the west as Tecmo Koei), a holding company to manage the affiliated companies.

Starting July 1 2014, Tecmo Koei will be known as Koei Tecmo in all territories, accurately reflecting the name order as seen in the company logo.

Subsidiaries

Team Ninja

Team Ninja is a development studio formerly led by Tomonobu Itagaki, founded in 1995. The studio is currently being lead by Yosuke Hayashi. Team Ninja is best known for the Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive series of video games. As of March 25th, 2013, Team Ninja has actually been restructured by Tecmo Koei into two groups: Ichigaya Development Group 1 and Ichigaya Development Group 2. Yosuke Hayashi has been confirmed as the overseer of Group 1, while Keisuke Kikuchi will lead Group 2.

Games:

• Dead or Alive 5 - PS3, 360 (2012)
• Ninja Gaiden 3 - PS3, 360, WiiU (2012)
• Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus - Vita (2012)
• Dead or Alive: Dimensions (2011)
• Dead or Alive Paradise - PSP (2010)
• Metroid: Other M - Wii (2010)
• Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 - PS3 (2009)
• Ninja Gaiden II - Xbox 360 (2008)
• Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword - Nintendo DS (2008)
• Ninja Gaiden Sigma - PS3 (2007)
• Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 - Xbox 360 (2006)
• Dead or Alive 4 - Xbox 360 (2005)
• Ninja Gaiden Black - Xbox (2005)
• Dead or Alive Ultimate - Xbox (2004)
• Ninja Gaiden - Xbox (2004)
• Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball - Xbox (2003)
• Dead or Alive 3 - Xbox (2001)
• Dead or Alive 2 - Arcade, Dreamcast, PlayStation 2 (2000)
• Dead or Alive - Arcade, Saturn, PlayStation (1996)

Team Tachyon

Team Tachyon is a Japanese development studio founded by Tecmo in 2007.

Games:

• Quantum Theory - PS3, Xbox 360 (2010)
• Undead Knights - PSP (2009)
• Sasami Kisscomi - iPod Touch, iPhone (2009)
• Rygar: The Battle of Argus - Wii, PS2 (2008)
• Super Swing Golf Season 2 - Wii (2007)