Taito
More info
- Creator
- Michael Kogan
- Released
- 1953
- Type
- Game developer, arcade manufacturer
- Owner
- Square Enix (since 2005)
A Japanese company that imported vodka and jukeboxes before it made Space Invaders.
Ukrainian-born businessman Michael Kogan set the company up in Tokyo in 1953. Its early business was importing spirits and running vending machines and jukeboxes — which gave Taito a distribution network and plenty of experience with coin slots long before video games arrived.
In 1978 it released Tomohiro Nishikado's Space Invaders; Nishikado designed the hardware himself because no off-the-shelf board was up to it. The game was such a hit that the story of it causing a shortage of 100-yen coins is still repeated, despite never having been substantiated. Midway licensed it for the US. Arkanoid and Bubble Bobble followed in 1986. Square Enix bought Taito in 2005.