'Father of Pac-Man' and Namco founder Masaya Nakamura dies at 91

[Photo credit: Jiji Press/Agence France-Presse]

Masaya Nakamura, founder of Namco and coined as the “father of Pac-Man,” has died at age 91.

Namco, a Japanese video game company, was founded in 1955 by Nakamura and was a forerunner in the arcade game craze of the '70s and '80s.

When Nakamura founded Namco, the company originally created kiddie rides for department stores.

After rebranding to Nakamura Amusement Machine Manufacturing Company in 1977, Namco expanded into arcade games. It exploded with Galaxian and Pac-Man in the late 1970s and early 1980s, leading the company to then experiment with handheld and console gaming. In 1993, Namco bought a film production company before merging with Bandai in 2005 to become Bandai Namco Entertainment.

Pac-Man, designed by Toru Iwatani, went on to be one of the highest grossing video games of all time, cementing it as a social phenomenon.

Nakumura passed on Jan. 22, but the company officially made a statement today, Jan. 30.