1950's
1955 Nakamura Manufacturing Ltd. founded in Tokyo and began operations by installing two rocking-horse rides on the rooftop of a department store in Yokohama.
1959 Company reorganized to form Nakamura Manufacturing Co., Ltd.
1960's
1963 Installed Roadway Ride on the rooftop of Mitsukoshi Department Store's main store in Nihonbashi, Tokyo.
1966 Established main production facility in Ota-ku, Tokyo. Expanded activities of Development and Production departments and began production of rocking-horse type rides. Concluded contract with The Walt Disney Company for characters to be used in production of rides.
1970's
1972 Use of Namco brand name begins.
1974 Entered coin-operated videogame market through acquisition of Atari (Japan) Corp. from Atari Corp. of the U.S.
1977 Changed company name to Namco Ltd. Established Namco Enterprises Asia Ltd. in Hong Kong.
1978 Established Namco America Inc. in California. Introduced their first videogame, Gee-Bee.
1979 Introduced Galaxians.
1980's
1980 Introduced Pac-Man.
1982 Introduced Pole Position driving simulation.
1983 Introduced Xevious.
1984 Commenced production and sale of game software for use in Nintendo's Family Computer.
1985 New Corporate Headquarter's building completed in Tokyo's Ota-ku.
1986 Acquired Italian Tomato restaurant chain. Introduced professional baseball game software, Family Stadium, for Nintendo's Family Computer. Established New Technology Foundation with the objective of fostering development of science and technology.
1987 Introduced Final Lap racing simulation, featuring competition among several players, an industry-first. Opened Yokohama Mirai-Kenkyusho in Yokohama's Tsuzuki-ku.
1988 Company stock registered on the Second Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Presented originally produced video, Mirai Ninja, at the Tokyo International Fantastic Film Festival, concurrent to which, its coin-op game was released.
1989 Introduced Winning Run, the first racing simulation videogame to feature 3D computer graphics. Developed Eunos Roadstar Driving Simulator in cooperation with Mazda Motor Corp.
1990's
1990 Developed a simulator for traffic safety education in cooperation with Mitsubishi Precision Co., Ltd. Operated Galaxian 3 and The Tower of Druaga, large-scale amusement attractions based on Namco's hyper-entertainment concept, at the International Garden and Greenery Exposition in Osaka. Established Namco Taiwan Co., Ltd. Namco America Inc. began direct sales of coin-operated games in the U.S. and acquired Atari Operations Inc. to commence amusement arcade operations in the U.S. Established Namco Hometek Inc. as a U.S. distribution base for home videogame software.
1991 Established Namco Europe Ltd. in London. Company stock elevated to the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Opened Sennichimae Plabo in Osaka, a new concept large-scale amusement arcade.
1992 Began theme park operation by opening Namco Wonder Eggs, an urban theme park, in Futakotamagawa district of Tokyo. Established Brent Leisure Ltd. in London as European manufacturing base and as U.K. distributor of Namco products.
1993 Acquired Aladdin's Castle, Inc., making Namco the largest arcade operator in the United States. Established Shanghai Namco Ltd. in China, a joint venture with Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Culture, to produce and sell amusement machines and to operate amusement arcades. Established Namco Operations Europe Ltd. in London and began amusement arcade operations in Europe. Opened Namco Wonder Park Sagamihara, Namco's first indoor amusement park. Opened Namco Wonder City, a comprehensive entertainment facility in Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama with Namco acting both as developer and tenant. Released Ridge Racer, a driving simulation coin-operated game using System 22, a real-time, three-dimensional computer graphics system board.
1994 Established Namco Cybertainment Inc. through consolidation of Namco Operations Inc. and Aladdin's Castle, Inc. Opened Empire of Eggs, adjacent to Namco Wonder Eggs. Introduced Ridge Racer for Sony's PlayStation. Introduced Tekken, a polygon martial arts game using System 11, a three-dimensional graphics system board developed in cooperation with Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc.
1995 Announced Tekken for Sony's PlayStation. Opened Namco-ya Sohonpo, an entertainment merchandise store. Established Namco Holding Corp. in the U.S.
1996 Opened Namco NamjaTown, a theme park of dreams and nostalgia, in Tokyo's Ikebukuro area. Redeveloped Namco Wonder Eggs and Empire of Eggs as Namco Wonder Eggs 2. Established subsidiaries in Spain, France, Germany and Israel and began amusement arcade operations in those countries. Established Namco Ireland Ltd. to strengthen manufacturing capabilities in Europe. Opened Namco Wondertower in Kyoto. Increased investment in Nikkatsu Corporation by \3 billion. Nikkatsu Corporation becomes a wholly owned subsidiary.
1998 Won grand prize in Non-interactive Category at Media Arts Festival, organized by the Agency for Cultural Affairs.
Opened Namco Kansai Headquarters building in Suita City, Osaka.
Released Gateball Stick, marking full entry into the seniors entertainment market.
Opened the Namco Wonder Park Kohoku.
Established Namco Trading Ltd. to enter the vending machine business.
1999 Opened Namco Wonder Park Hakata.
Created barrier-free entertainment designs. Entered nursing care business, combining the themes of "play" and "welfare."
Established Monolith Software Inc.
Created Namco Station for NTT DoCoMo's i-mode service; expanded and improved contents.
Released Pac-Man 20th Anniversary edition for PlayStation, commemorating the Pac-Man character.
Began supplying LCD units for pachinko machines.
2000's
2000 Released Ridge Racer V for PlayStation2.
Opened Star Adventure, a music attraction, and Doremi Store, a character shop, at Mediage in Daiba, Tokyo.
Founded the Namco Digital Hollywood Game Lab game school jointly with Digital Hollywood Co., Ltd.
Established Musicplayground Inc. in the U.S.
Released Ryori no Tatsujin.
Opened Namco Wonder Park Hawks Town.
Established Namco Ecolotec Limited.
Released Mr. Driller for three different home consoles.
Four computer graphics awarded prizes by SIGGRAPH.
One computer graphic awarded prize by Ars Electronica in Europe.
Merged with Nal Ltd.
Gained license to distribute Pac-Man for the Zaurus PDA made by Sharp Corp.
Opened Namco Entertainment World Tokyo Pitan City at Decks Tokyo Beach's Island Mall in Daiba, Tokyo.
Opened the Chi-Kou-Raku Internet facility in Nayabashi, Nagoya.
Opened Kid's Stadium inside Namco Wonder Park Kohoku. Commenced development of facility for preschool children.
Closed Namco Wonder Eggs 3 on New Year's Eve. Terminated urban theme park management business in Futakotamagawa.
2001 - Joint development venture between Sega and Namco of the gun game Vampire Night.
Started Team Namja collaborative project with Tanseisha Co., Ltd., Nikkatsu Corporation and other companies. Team Namja provides visual
presentation advice to commercial establishments.
Opened Yokohama Curry Museum (operated by Matahari Co., Ltd), the first project for Team Namja, in Isezaki-cho, Yokohama.
Teamed up with Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. and Sega Corp. on application of PlayStation2 technology to network business.
Began cooperating with Sega Corp. on logistics work and merging of distributing arms in Japan.
Formed alliance with Enix Corp. and Square Co., Ltd
