As of April 1, 2025, Hisashi Koinuma will replace Yoichi Erikawa as Koei Tecmo’s president and CEO. The gaming company’s announcement also included an absorption-type split set for the first day of April. Koei Tecmo is set on transitioning into AAA games from the mobile gaming market.
Koei Tecmo, one of Japan’s oldest video game companies, is set to complete its succession in 2025. The Atelier and Ninja Gaiden game maker will make the transition, with many of its old guards paving the way for new leadership.
Koei Tecmo announces changes in its setup
Koei Tecmo announced a major leadership transition and restructuring for 2025. The Japanese company announced that the changes had been agreed to at a board of directors meeting on February 10, 2025.
The current president and CEO, Yōichi Erikawa, will step down and make way for long-standing executive Hisashi Koinuma. Koinuma joined Koei Tecmo in 1994 and has served as the company’s CEO of video game development and publishing. According to the Japanese game publisher, the change is part of plans to pave the way for the company’s next generation of management.
The changes will include the appointment of other key executives across various divisions of Koei Tecmo and its subsidiaries. Yosuke Hayashi will take over as Director and Executive Vice President of the AAA Games Studio.
Mei Erikawa was also appointed as director and managing executive officer. Erikawa will oversee the Ruby Party division and simultaneously act as Deputy General Manager of the Marketing Division. The leadership changes will allow co-founders Yōichi and Keiko Erikawa to step down from leadership roles to continue overseeing investments.
Koei Tecmo also announced a corporate split that aims to streamline the Japanese company’s financial operations. The announcement revealed Koei Tecmo Corporate Finance Co., Ltd. (KTCF), its newly established subsidiary. The subsidiary will manage the Japanese video game company’s investment portfolio following an absorption-type company split. Koei Tecmo Games Co., Ltd. will serve as the splitting company, while KTCF is the successor entity. The transition is set to be finalized on April 1, 2025.
Under the new structure, Keiko Erikawa, one of Koei Tecmo’s co-founders, will become president and representative director of KTCF. Erikawa will solely focus on overseeing the company’s investment portfolio as the company aims to gaming business globally. The move is expected to facilitate Tecmo’s focus on AAA games while moving away from mobile gaming, which has limited potential. The company aims to release large-scale, high-budget titles annually. Koei Tecmo plans to double its workforce from 2,500 to 5,000 employees to support this strategy.
Gamers react to Koei Tecmo’s announcement
Gamers online reacted to Koei Tecmo’s announcement of leadership changes and company restructuring. Some gamers supported the changes and said that they were surprised but confident that the company would succeed since its co-founders are still in supervisory roles.
The gamers also said that all is well due to Koinuma, the new CEO, being a major fixture on some successful projects in the past. The gamers said that Koinuma’s role as the creator of Samurai Warriors 1 made him suitable for the job at hand.
Some gamers took the announcement as an opportunity to field their queries on Koei Tecmo’s projects. They asked on online forums whether the studio would make more Dead or Alive, Samurai Warrior, and Fatal Frame games. Some gamers even requested the studio to make remastered versions of its games, such as Ninja Gaiden Black, for consoles and PC. The gamers also requested changes to the pricing of Tecmo’s Atelier series DLCs.
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