Namco, the company behind hit games such as "Pac-Man" and "Galaga," lost its founder Masaya Nakamura last week. The company's founder died at 91.

Gematsu has revealed that the news of Nakamura's passing was "withheld until after the services" that involved his close relatives. At a later date, a "Farewell Gathering" will be held to commemorate Nakamura.

Namco's founder was born on December 24, 1925, and he graduated from Yokohama National University in 1948. In 1955, he established Nakamura Manufacturing, which was later renamed Bandai Namco Entertainment.

Nakamura became the president of Namco in 2002, and he became Bandai Namco Holding's senior advisor in 2005. The following year, Nakamura became the president of Bandai Namco Games (previously known as Namco). He later became an honorary advisor of Bandai Namco Games, which is now known as Bandai Namco Entertainment, and Namco after two months.

Nakamura was also an honorary member of the Tokyo Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and he was also a senior advisor to the Japan Amusement Machine and Marketing Association. The Japanese government awarded Nakamura with the Order of the Rising Sun in 2007 for his achievements, per Kotaku.

Nakamura "helped to usher in Namco's growing video game division for arcade games," and one of their most successful titles was Toru Iwatani's "Pac-Man." Because of his contributions, Nakamura became known as "the father of Pac-Man." In "Pac-Man," players controlled the titular character as he traverses a maze.

Gamers must guide Pac-Man who must eat all the pac-dots/ biscuits/dots in a stage to move on to the next one. Despite the game's simple premise, "Pac-Man" became a hit and even had several spin-offs such as "Ms. Pac-Man," "Pac-Man Plus," "Super Pac-Man," and "Baby Pac-Man."

Namco's other hit games include the fighting video game franchise "Tekken," the weapon-based 3D fighting game franchise "Soul Calibur," and the shoot'em up arcade game franchise "Galaga."