Konami is a Japanese corporation founded March 21, 1969, by Kagemasa Kozuki as a jukebox rental and repair business in Osaka, Japan. In 1973, Kozuki changed his business name to Konami Industry Co., Ltd. and began manufacturing electronic games for the many arcades found on the top floors of Japanese department stores. By 1978 the company had created several video games and began exporting products to the United States. The first hit games of the 1980's included Frogger, Scramble and Super Cobra.
2010 numbers indicate Konami Corp has 5700 employees worldwide. As a publicly traded corporation, its shares sell as (9755:JP) on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and as KNM on the NYSE.
In 1996, Konami Australia Pty Ltd was established to serve the Asia-Pacific marketplace. Commencing as a manufacturer of gaming machines in Australia, it has expanded its market with machine exports to New Zealand, Malaysia, Macau, Singapore, Philippines, South Africa, and South Korea.
After continued sales and success in arcade video games and the home game market, Konami entered the US gambling market in 2000 as Konami Gaming, Inc. Today, the company's US headquarters are in Las Vegas, Nevada. Sales offices are located next to McCarran International Airport in a 120,000 square foot facility with production facilities in Paradise, Nevada.
Using the same diverse group of game names and styles, the US market concentrates on innovative and exciting slot machines that capture player interest with constantly changing video screens. Games such as Pharaoh's Wish, Fortune Trip and Pirates Jackpot are popular with players, but Konami currently is most popular with its series of progressive, community jackpot carousels.
These progressive banks of slots are connected to a community jackpot. When a bonus is triggered on one machine, all players can be included in a multi-player race to see who wins a jackpot. Top Track, a car race progressive is very popular, but Beat the Field is the most popular of Konami's current community slot carousels.
As of 2011, Kagemasa Kozuki remains as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer. Worldwide sales revenue is projected to be over $3 billion (US) for the current year.
