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Slot Manufacturer Profile: Konami

If you have heard of Konami at all, it is most likely not because of their slot machines. Video game buffs will probably recognize the name of the manufacturer of such titles as the infamous fighting game Mortal Kombat. Yet, the worlds of video games and slots are not nearly as disparate as you might initially think. Konami does both. It is true that the company got its start in video games. This is an industry that is MASSIVE in Japan, Konami’s home nation, Konami churned out lots of arcade games until the mid-1990s, when the industry began to fizzle in a big way. The company was searching desperately for a new source of income, and the transition from stand-up video games to stand-up slot games was intuitive and natural. Heaven knows that fruit machines are plenty lucrative, so it was probably a good move!

Konami was able to tap into Americans’ slot machine preferences, because they had been active in the United States (albeit in the video game and not gambling industry) since the late seventies. Because the company still had plenty of money in the bank, it was financially-equipped to make the gamble on transitioning into a totally different business. Konami Games, the casino subdivision of the parent company Konami Corporation, has started churning out slot games to be put in United States land casinos.

Konami’s American slot machine division has its offices in Las Vegas, Nevada. The company has been responsible for such casino game successes as the Rocky series of devices, based on the hit movie. “Money” has become a major theme in the naming of Konami slots. If the game you are playing contains the words “cash,” “money,” “dollars,” et cetera, it’s probably by Konami.

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