Masaya Nakamura has passed.

He was 91.  For those who don’t know: Masaya Nakamura was the CEO of Namco, which is of course the company that gave us Pac-Man. It is not that video games would have never been created if Namco had stayed exclusively in the amusement park ride business; it is that the entire industry would be different today if Namco had. Arcade games shaped them from the start, and arcade games are the way that they are based on decisions made by Nakamura.  That’s a powerful influence to have on popular culture.

My condolences to his family and loved ones.