Taito Corporation

Taito (タイトー) is a long-established video game manufacturer. Their game Space Invaders has become synonymous with arcade games.

Contents [hide]

1 History

2 History

3 Related Illustrations

4 Related Articles

5 External Links

5.1 English

5.2 Japanese

6 Article in Other Languages

History

Taito (タイトー, Taitō), stylized as TAITO in Japan, is a video game company that develops and manufactures arcade games and prizes (such as crane game prizes), operates amusement arcades, and develops and provides content for cell phones. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Square Enix Holdings. In the past, the company was also known for its development of home video games and karaoke communication business.

Taito was the first company to launch the karaoke communication system, which is commonplace today. Today, the karaoke business has been transferred to Xing Entertainment (which operates Joysound), and Taito has withdrawn from the business.

However, the X-55 home-use karaoke machine came too early. Compared to the X2000, the X-55's built-in sound source was inferior, and communication fees were a bottleneck.

History

Taito was founded in 1953 by Michael Kogan, a Jewish Ukrainian, as Taito Trading Company (太東貿易株式会社, Taitō Bōeki Kabushiki gaisha).

While importing and selling jukeboxes, he brewed and sold Japan's first vodka, product name Troika (トロイカ), and manufactured and sold peanut vendor. They also handled perfume vendors, but at the time, there was little demand for perfume and they were only set up in Tokyo.

1956, Taito manufactured and sold or leased the first purely domestic jukebox. In 1958, they began leasing pinball machines.

In 1960, the first Taito directly operated game center opened in front of Kintetsu Ueroku Station in Osaka.

In 1965, Pacific Industrial is established as a subsidiary for the planning, development, and manufacture of amusement machines (later merged into Taito and renamed Taito Central Research Institute). Taito also developed crane games in 1965.

They were awarded by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (the predecessor of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry) in 1970 as a company contributing to exports. 1971 had them acquired Japan Vending Machine Co.