Tecmo (Ohga Shrugs)

Tecmo Co., Ltd. is a Japanese video game corporation founded in 1967. It has its headquarters in Kudankita, Chiyoda, Tokyo and its subsidiary, Tecmo, Inc., is located in Torrance, California.

Tecmo is best known for the Star Force, Dead or Alive, Ninja Gaiden, Deception, Monster Rancher, Rygar, Tecmo Bowl, Fatal Frame, Tōkidenshō Angel Eyes and Gallop Racer video game series.

As of 2012, the Tecmo brand continues to be used on games made by Tecmo Co., Ltd. and Tecmo, Inc.

Early history
The company was founded on July 31, 1967 as a supplier of cleaning equipment.Two years later, in 1969, it started to sell amusement equipment.

In March 1981, a U.S. division was inaugurated in Los Angeles as U.S. Tehkan, Inc.. A month later, on April 1981, Tehkan released in Japan its first arcade video game titled Pleiads (which was distributed in America by Centuri). When it was still called Tehkan, the company released arcade games such as Bomb Jack and Tehkan World Cup.

On January 8, 1986, Tehkan officially changed its name to Tecmo Co, Ltd.

Lawsuit
On the 3 June 2008 Team Ninja head Tomonobu Itagaki resigned from the company and filed a 145 million yen ($1.3 million) lawsuit for "unpaid completion bonuses" and "emotional distress". This was followed by another lawsuit filed on the 16th of June by two plaintiffs on behalf of Tecmo's 300 employees for unpaid wages amounting to ¥8.3 million.

Tecmo Today
On August 29, 2008, Ubisoft made plans for a friendly takeover of Tecmo by purchasing shares at a 30 percent premium with a total bid of ¥22.3 billion. On September 4, 2008, Tecmo officially declined the takeover proposal. Tecmo subsequently engaged in talks with Koei about a possible merger between the two companies. In November 2008, Tecmo denied Koei's takeover proposal.

As of 2013, Tecmo Co, Ltd. and Tecmo, Inc. continue to make video games that make use of properties created by Tecmo, the latest being Dead or Alive 5 and Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge.