, was a Japanese

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...

corporation founded in 1967. It had its headquarters in Kudankita, Chiyoda,

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

. Its subsidiary, Tecmo Inc, was located in

Torrance, California Torrance is a city in the Los Angeles metropolitan area located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city is part of what is known as the South Bay region of the metropolitan area. Torrance has of beachfront on the Pacific Oc ...

. Tecmo was formerly known as Tehkan. Tecmo is known for the '' Captain Tsubasa'', ''

Dead or Alive Dead or Alive most commonly refers to: * Dead or Alive (band), a British pop band * Dead or alive, a phrase on a wanted poster Dead or Alive may also refer to: Film and television * ''Dead or Alive'' (1921 film), an American silent film dir ...

'', '' Deception'', ''

Fatal Frame ''Fatal Frame'', titled in Japan and ''Project Zero'' in Europe and Australia, is a Japanese survival horror video game series created, published and developed by Koei Tecmo (originally Tecmo). Debuting in 2001 with the first entry in the serie ...

'', '' Gallop Racer'', '' Monster Rancher'', '' Ninja Gaiden'', '' Rygar'', '' Star Force'' and '' Tecmo Bowl'' video game series. When it was still called Tehkan, the company released arcade games such as '' Bomb Jack'', '' Gridiron Fight'' and '' Tehkan World Cup''. The company was founded on July 31, 1967 as a supplier of cleaning equipment. By 1969, it started to sell amusement equipment. In 2009, Tecmo merged with Koei to form the

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

Tecmo Koei Holdings and was operated as a subsidiary until its disbandment in early 2010. In April 2010, Tecmo was dissolved and its video game franchises are now published by Koei Tecmo Games. Tecmo is also the name of a distinct video game development company that was established in March 2010, but later folded into Koei Tecmo Games in April 2011.

History

Early history

Tecmo Co., Ltd, which merged with Koei in 2009, was itself the combination of two companies: Imperial Trustee Corporation (founded in 1964) and Nippon Yacht Co, Ltd (founded in 1967).

Imperial Trustee Corporation

The origins of Tecmo dates to September 1964 as the Imperial Trustee Corporation, a company specialized in the management of building maintenance including the supplying of cleaning equipment. In July 1969, the company started to sell entertainment amusement equipment and opened its first self-managed amusement facility in March 1970 in

Chiba Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Chiba Prefecture has a population of 6,278,060 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Chiba Prefecture borders Ibaraki Prefecture to the north, Saitama Prefecture to the n ...

. In October 1977, the Imperial Trustee Corporation was renamed "Tehkan Ltd", with the trade name changed as well to "Tehkan". Tehkan is derived from the name "Teikoku Kanza". In March 1981, a U.S. division was inaugurated in Los Angeles as "U.S. Tehkan, Inc.". A month later, in April 1981, Tehkan released in Japan its first internally developed arcade video game, titled "'' Pleiads''" (which was distributed in America by Centuri). On January 8, 1986, Tehkan Ltd officially changed its name to Tecmo Co, Ltd. Tecmo's first internally developed home video game ''

Mighty Bomb Jack is a platform video game developed and published by Tecmo for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It was later ported to the Amiga, Atari ST and Commodore 64. ''Mighty Bomb Jack'' is a sequel to the 1984 arcade game ''Bomb Jack''. Within PAL-A re ...

'' was released for the Family Computer in April 1986.

Nippon Yacht Co, Ltd

On July 31, 1967, the Nippon Yacht Corporation was established to handle the real estate of ships. On December 6, 1982, Nippon Yacht Co, Ltd was renamed "Tehkan Electronics Corporation".

Merger of Tecmo and Tehkan Electronics Corporation. Focus on console video games

On April 1, 1987, Tecmo Co., Ltd merged with its sister company Tehkan Electronics Corporation. The former's name was retained for the merger but the latter was the actual surviving company. By the turn of the decade, Tecmo was firmly in the camp of video game consoles. Though still involved in the arcade industry, much of the success was achieved on the

Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in American ...

with titles such as '' Ninja Gaiden'', '' Tecmo Bowl'' and the Japan-only ''

Tsuppari Ōzumō This is a list of video games developed and/or published by Koei Tecmo, one of their internal development houses, or the pre-merger companies Tecmo (formerly known as Tehkan) or Koei Koei Co., Ltd. was a Japanese video game publisher, devel ...

''. When

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

released its PlayStation in the 1990s, Tecmo joined the endeavor which set the tone for series such as ''

'', '' Monster Rancher'', '' Deception'' and '' Gallop Racer''. In January 2006, Junji Nakamura resigns as president of Tecmo, while Yoshimi Yasuda was named his successor. On July 18, 2006, Tecmo's founder and chairman Yoshihito Kakihara died of interstitial pneumonia at the age of 67. Tecmo entered the second section of

Tokyo Stock Exchange The , abbreviated as Tosho () or TSE/TYO, is a stock exchange located in Tokyo, Japan. It is the third largest stock exchange in the world by aggregate market capitalization of its listed companies, and the largest in Asia. It had 2,292 listed ...

in March 2000 and transitioned to the first section in March 2001. It delisted on March 26, 2009 right before the merger with Koei took effect.

Lawsuit

On the June 3, 2008 Team Ninja head Tomonobu Itagaki resigned from the company and filed a 145 million yen ($1.4 million) lawsuit against Tecmo president, Yoshimi Yasuda, for "unpaid completion bonuses" and "emotional distress". This was followed by another lawsuit filed on the 16th of June by two plaintiffs on behalf of Tecmo's 300 employees for unpaid wages amounting to ¥8.3 million.

Merger with Koei

On August 29, 2008 Square Enix made plans for a friendly takeover of Tecmo by purchasing shares at a 30 percent premium with a total bid of ¥22.3 billion. On September 4, 2008 Tecmo officially declined the takeover proposal. Tecmo subsequently engaged in talks with Koei about a possible merger between the two companies, and agreed in November 2008 to merge on April 1, 2009 to form Tecmo Koei Holdings. On January 26, 2009 the two companies officially announced the merger, and the holding company formed on April 1, 2009 as planned. Tecmo initially continued to be operated as a subsidiary and brandname of Tecmo Koei Holdings. In January 2010, the United States subsidiaries of Tecmo Inc. and Koei America merged to create Tecmo Koei America Corporation. Tecmo was effectively declared disbanded in Japan on April 1, 2010, as part of a major international reorganization within Tecmo Koei Holdings. Relevant intellectual properties were slated to be further managed by Koei Tecmo Games. On March 15, 2010, and roughly two weeks before Tecmo was dissolved, its internal development studio was spun off as a separate company under the name of "Tecmo Co, Ltd.", a wholly owned subsidiary of Koei Tecmo Games. This new company was initially called "Tehkan" to avoid confusion with the other company that was still operating for another two weeks. When Tecmo disbanded on April 1, 2010, Tekhan was renamed Tecmo. This was short-lived as the new Tecmo along with the new Koei video game developers were both dissolved and merged into Koei Tecmo Games a year later, on April 1, 2011. Despite having been dissolved twice as a legal entity, Tecmo continued to appear as a label on video games by Koei Tecmo Games until another corporate reorganization in 2016 abandoned the brand name for good. Video games by Koei Tecmo Games marketed with the Tecmo logotype included ''

Dead or Alive 5 is a 2012 fighting video game developed by Team Ninja and published by Tecmo Koei for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It is the fifth main entry in the ''Dead or Alive'' fighting series and the first to have a multi-platform release since '' ...

'', '' Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge'' and '' Deception IV: The Nightmare Princess''.

Subsidiaries

* Team Ninja, started in 1995. * Team Tachyon, started in 2007.

Games

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Koei Tecmo Amusement companies of Japan Software companies based in Tokyo Video game companies established in 1967 Video game companies disestablished in 2010 Defunct video game companies of Japan Video game publishers Japanese companies established in 1967 Japanese companies disestablished in 2010 pt:Koei Tecmo Holdings#Tecmo