Koei Tecmo

Koei Tecmo is a developer and publisher.

Koei Tecmo Webpage, Facebook

Koei Tecmo Holdings Co. Ltd. (formerly Tecmo Koei Holdings Co. Ltd.) is a Japanese developer and video games publisher, including PC, console and mobile and arcade titles. It was established in April 2009 through the merger of the industry-leading companies Koei Co. Ltd. and Tecmo Co. Ltd. The holding company is headquartered in Yokohama (Koei's original headquarters), and its president is one of Koei's co-founders, Yoichi Erikawa, who has held this position since the end of 2010.

• Koei Tecmo as a game producer
• Koei Tecmo as a game publisher
• History

Koei Tecmo as a game producer

Some of Koei Tecmo's most famous brands are those launched in the 1980s. In the 1990s, Koei launched a series of historical strategy games, Nobunaga's Ambition and Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Although the company has not given up on developing both brands, it currently focuses mainly on game genres popularized mostly in Japan, such as fighting games, jRPGs and third-person hack-and-slash action games. The company is also known for games of a genre widely loved in Japan, which is otome, a type of visual novel.

The development teams currently operating under the Koei Tecmo banner include the following studios:

• Gust – founded in 1993 and acquired by Tecmo Koei in 2011; this studio is known mainly for the jRPG Atelier series;
• Kou Shibusawa – established in 2016 as a result of the restructuring of other development teams within the holding; the studio’s responsibilities include further development of the historical series Nobunaga’s Ambition and Romance of the Three Kingdoms, as well as the horse racing simulator Winning Post;
• Midas – established in March 2017, a studio specializing in mobile productions and new IPs;
• Omega Force – established by Koei in 1996 and known mainly for the Dynasty Warriors series of tactical action games and its spin-offs, Samurai Warriors and Warriors Orochi; the studio’s portfolio also includes IPs such as Toukiden and Dragon Quest Heroes as well as One Piece: Pirate Warriors, which are supported by other publishers;
• Ruby Party – a studio specializing in otome games (visual novel adventure games aimed primarily at women), popular in Japan;
• Team Ninja – established by Tecmo in 1995 and known mainly for the Ninja Gaiden series of action games and the Dead or Alive series of fighting games.

Among the development teams that have been part of Koei Tecmo over the years, it is worth mentioning the now-defunct Team Tachyon studio, founded in 2007 and closed in 2016. The most famous game developed by this team was Quantum Theory, which released in 2010 to pretty lukewarm reception.

Koei Tecmo as a game publisher

Koei Tecmo publishes almost exclusively games developed by internal development teams and studios owned by the holding company. One of the few exceptions to this rule are the two installments in the Disgaea series, released between 2004 and 2006 by Nippon Ichi Software (currently published internationally by NIS America). Due to the specific nature of the Japanese video game market, aside from the company's major franchises mentioned above such as Dynasty Warriors, Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive, many Koei Tecmo titles have never been officially released outside of Japan.

History

Tecmo Co. Ltd.

The history of the Koei Tecmo holding company is inextricably linked to the long history of its two constituent companies. The origins of Tecmo Co. Ltd. date back as far as September 1964. That's when The Empire Trustee Corporation was founded in the Japanese capital, initially providing property maintenance as well as equipment and cleaning supplies. On July 31, 1967, a sister company, Nippon Yacht Corporation, was established, specializing in the sale and rental of yachts. This date is considered the official founding date of the future gaming giant, Tecmo Co. Ltd. After approximately two years of operation, in mid-1969, Nippon Yacht Corporation gradually began to focus on the entertainment industry, opening its own entertainment center in March 1970, located in Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo.

In October 1977, the parent company, The Empire Trustee Corporation, was renamed to Tehkan Ltd. Less than four years later, in March 1981, an American branch was established in Los Angeles, named U.S. Tekhan Ltd. A month later, the company released its first independently developed arcade game, Pleiads, in Japan. Later on, it was also distributed in the United States. The game's success led the company to venture into the gaming industry, which resulted in the renaming of the Nippon Yacht Corporation to Tehkan Electronics Corporation on December 6, 1982.

On January 8, 1986, Tehkan Ltd. officially changed its name to Tecmo Co. Ltd. In April 1986, Tecmo's first standalone game was released: Mighty Bomb Jack for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Over the next decade, the company suspended production of games for arcade machines and focused on the home console market, where it achieved success with titles such as Ninja Gaiden and Tecmo Bowl for the NES.

In the 1990s, after Sony introduced the first PlayStation console, Tecmo Co. Ltd. quickly joined the ranks of developers and publishers supporting PS1. It was on this console that the company's well-known franchises debuted, including Dead or Alive, Deception, Gallop Racer and Monster Rancher. In 1995, the Team Ninja development studio was formed within Tecmo, headed by Tomonobu Itagaki, known as the co-creator of the Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive series. Itagaki also served on the company's board until 2008, when a highly publicized lawsuit arose in which he accused Tecmo of failing to pay outstanding bonuses and psychologically harassing employees. In March 2000, Tecmo Co. Ltd. was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, from which it was delisted nine years later, just before the planned merger with Koei.

Koei Co. Ltd.

Koei's history began somewhat later than that of its current partner. It started in July 1978, when two brothers, Yoichi and Keiko Erikawa, decided to take their first steps in the programming industry after the collapse of their family business. The company's headquarters was located in the Hiyoshi district of Yokohama (right next to Keio University, where Yoichi studied) and remains there to this day. In its early years, Koei focused on custom software and PC games. The company's first and most important game was the historical strategy game, Nobunaga's Ambition, which won numerous awards and led to the development of subsequent productions with similar themes, such as Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Uncharted Waters.

In 1988, Koei established its North American branch in California – Koei America Corporation – responsible for selling and localizing their games in all countries except Japan. Under the leadership of Stieg Hedlund, a renowned developer, this branch also created many original projects, such as Gemfire (1992), Liberty or Death (1993) and Celtic Tales: Balor of the Evil Eye (1995). After Hedlund's resignation in 1995, Koei's American branch practically abandoned game development, focusing instead on sales and marketing. Between 2001 and 2003, Koei established further international offices in Canada and Europe (the United Kingdom), as well as smaller offices in China, South Korea, Taiwan and Lithuania. Later, an internal development studio was also established in Singapore. However, the company's further development took a completely different turn in 2008, when Koei announced its intention to acquire Tecmo, their rival.

The merger of Tecmo and Koei

At the end of August 2008, Yoshimi Yasuda resigned as president of Tecmo Co. Ltd. and was replaced by Yasuharu Kakihara, a former board member. On August 28th, the growing company Square Enix announced plans for a friendly takeover of Tecmo by purchasing a 30 percent stake and set a deadline of September 4th for all interested parties to respond. A hastily convened board meeting of Tecmo Co. Ltd. resulted in concrete decisions. By the requested deadline, the company officially rejected Square Enix's proposal and, on the same day, announced its own plans to merge with Koei Co. Ltd. In November 2008, plans for the merger were made public and officially concluded on April 1st, 2009 with the formation of Tecmo Koei Holdings.

Immediately after the merger, a tedious process of restructuring and organizational changes began. In 2009, Koei Europe was renamed to Tecmo Koei Europe and began publishing games under the new name. A completely new branch of the holding company was also established in Hanoi, Vietnam. In early 2010, the American offices of Tecmo and Koei were merged to form Tecmo Koei America Corporation, a direct subsidiary of the Japanese company Tecmo Koei Holdings. That same year, the rebranding also affected the branches in Canada, South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore. During the initial post-merger period, Tecmo and Koei continued to operate as subsidiaries of Tecmo Koei Holdings. In April 2010, it was announced that Tecmo was discontinuing its operations in Japan and its sister company was being renamed to Tecmo Koei Games, simultaneously acquiring Tecmo's intellectual property.

Two weeks earlier, however, the development studio that had formed Tecmo's operations had been spun off from the holding company to form Tecmo Co. Ltd. (a fully owned subsidiary of Tecmo Koei Games). For the first two weeks (until Tecmo's formal dissolution), it used the name Tehkan, one of Tecmo's former names, before finally reverting to its predecessor and operating under it for about a year. In April 2011, the chaos was finally resolved and the former Tecmo and Koei development teams were merged under the name Tecmo Koei Games.

At the same time, the holding company announced that for marketing reasons, the Tecmo and Koei names would continue to be used for games produced and published by the company. On July 1, 2014, to emphasize Koei's leading role within the holding company, its name was changed to Koei Tecmo Holdings Co. Ltd. In February 2018, the company underwent another restructuring, discontinuing the Team Tachyon, Koei, and Tecmo brands.

Koei Tecmo's mutual history continues

In the following years, Koei Tecmo focused primarily on developing its core series; however, its catalog also included new IPs, such as Nioh, Rise of the Ronin, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty from Team Ninja, and Wild Hearts from Omega Force. In 2025, the Ninja Gaiden brand was given a new lease of life thanks to Ninja Gaiden II Black (developed and published by Koei Tecmo) and Ninja Gaiden 4 (the result of a collaboration between Team Ninja and PlatinumGames, published by Xbox Game Studios).