Full Text] Koh Shibusawa: “I have to try it myself. I still play games all morning.

The creator of “Nobunaga’s Ambition” and “Sangokushi” reveals

Ambition of Nobunaga,” a historical simulation game set in Japan during the Warring States Period in which players aim to unify the country, has become a huge hit, with 16 titles in the series in the 43 years since its release. Koei Tecmo Games has also released a series of other games, including the “Sangokushi” series and the “Shin-Sangoku Musou” series, which have attracted many fans overseas as well.

Yoichi Erikawa, 75, founder and current chairman of the holding company Koei Tecmo HD (known as “Koh Shibusawa” in his capacity as game producer), has some surprising words to say.

The game industry is now said to be worth 30 trillion yen worldwide. The Japanese market accounts for 10% of that, but I had no idea that it would grow to such a large scale. I am simply astonished. ……

Mr. Kato was born in Ashikaga City, Tochigi Prefecture, in 1950. His parents ran a textile dyestuff wholesaler, and he intended to take over the family business as the third generation. After graduating from university, he worked for four and a half years at an industrial chemical trading company. However, the family business was forced to close due to the textile recession.

In 1978, at the age of 27, I founded a dye wholesaler in the hope of somehow reviving the business. The company I founded at that time was Koei (later to become Koei). I put my wish for the company to become a prosperous company into the name.

However, the difficulties of the dye business were more severe than he had imagined. The struggle continued for two years. Thinking that perhaps he lacked management skills, Erikawa turned to bookstores. He studied books by Konosuke Matsushita, Kazuo Inamori, Peter Drucker, and others. Then one day, he noticed an unfamiliar letter in the magazine section. It was the beginning of the rise of personal computer magazines.

As I looked at them and wondered what they were, I became more and more interested. They said it could be used to streamline management, so I began to want to buy a computer and try it out for myself.”

However, computers at that time were much more expensive than they are today. Then a savior appeared. His wife Keiko gave him one for his 30th birthday. The encounter goes back to when he was a student. Erikawa entered the Faculty of Commerce at Keio University and lived in a boarding house a few minutes away from Hiyoshi Station in Yokohama. His landlord was a woman whose husband had died, and she lived with her daughter, an art student. One day, as he entered a nearby pachinko parlor, a young woman with many wooden boxes filled with payouts at her feet caught his eye. She was the daughter of the landlord.

She played pachinko, mahjong, and had started investing in stocks when she was in high school. That’s my wife now.”

She had 4,000 shares of Nintendo stock, which was still a hanafuda (Japanese playing cards) maker. Some of those shares were sold and turned into personal computers.

The starting salary for a college graduate at that time was about five times as much as my starting salary,” he said. But my wife kept saying to me, ‘If you hadn’t sold your Nintendo stock at that time, you would have made ……’ (laughs).

Thinking and Enjoying Games.

From here, he became immersed in the world of computers. He learned programming languages on his own and created software required by his company. When a computer magazine published instructions on how to make games, he began to try his hand at it.

At the time, what was popular were action games that competed with reflexes. But I was already over 30 years old, and I wasn’t interested in those kinds of games. I thought I would try to make a game that I would enjoy.

That game was a game based on history, a game that you could think about and enjoy. I have always loved history and grew up reading many historical novels. I thought of an interesting subject and came up with “The Battle of Kawanakajima,” in which Shingen Takeda and Kenshin Uesugi fight to the death. I was playing a game about the battle between Shingen Takeda and Kenshin Uesugi, and it occurred to me. I wondered if there might be others like me.

But back then, there were no software dealers. So I put a small black-and-white ad in a computer magazine and started a mail order business.

Orders started pouring in. He was truly surprised when a postal worker brought him a cardboard box full of registered mail envelopes.

‘There were even letters of appreciation enclosed. It was interesting, they wrote. This made me happy. I was happy to know that a game I made for my own enjoyment was entertaining others.

He decided to turn this into a business. The hint for his next game was close at hand. He was running his own company. As the number of games sold increased, he turned his attention to the “work of the feudal lords of the Warring States.

They were not just fighting battles,” he said. They were building vassals, establishing towns, developing new rice fields, and so on. They accomplished various things, which led to the expansion of their territories. I thought, “Why don’t we make a game of this nation-building process? It was only because I was the president that I was able to see this.

Thus was born “Nobunaga’s Ambition. Nobunaga Oda is the most popular feudal lord of the Warring States period in Japan. Nobunaga met an untimely end at Honnoji Temple and died in the middle of his ambition, according to Erakawa. What if Nobunaga had defeated Akechi Mitsuhide at Honnoji? If he had achieved his dream of unifying the whole country. ……

So you can create an “if” of history in the game. You can simulate your own experience of the Warring States period. I thought this would be interesting.”

The Day I Became Shibusawa Ko

After its release in ’83, it quickly became an explosive hit. Initially, the game was set up to feature battles against 17 daimyo (feudal lords), but the number of daimyo expanded rapidly along with the series as requests came in from all over Japan for the inclusion of our own Tono-sama. The next project was “Sangokushi” (The History of the Three Kingdoms).

He adapted the story, which had been depicted differently in novels, manga, and puppet dramas, into a game in his own way. This was another big hit. In addition, the company decided to produce game software in a joint venture with a Chinese company, and overseas business also began.

As the company grew by leaps and bounds, Erikawa was supported by his wife. As a graduate of art college, she was able to entrust him with the creation of computer graphics, but that was not the only role she played.

Before I got married, I had started my own fashion brand, making high-end women’s clothing,” he said. With European brands, the brand remains even after the founder dies. So he advised me, ‘You should create a producer name that would become a brand.'”

Thus began the name Shibusawa Ko. He combined Eiichi Shibusawa, a respected businessman, with the company’s name, Kohyei. Erikawa is not only a businessman, but also a game producer, Shibusawa Koh.

I think this was really big,” Erikawa said. The company now has six game brands, and we are making good games under each brand. Shibusawa Ko is a game brand that is known around the world.

His wife’s keen economic sense also came in handy when it came to pricing. When he created “Sangokushi,” Erikawa intended to set the price at the same level as ordinary video game software. However, his wife demanded a price 1.5 times higher.

She said, “If the game is unique, difficult to make, and rare, there is no need to sell it at the standard price. If the game is this interesting, people will buy it even if it costs more.

Indeed, she was right. The market sense for stocks that he had developed since high school was put to good use in the management of the company’s surplus funds.

I once made a profit on an investment that was equivalent to the operating profit of the game business,” he said.

I feel we are entering a new era in the gaming market.”

At the entrance of the building in Yokohama, where the company’s office is located, a lot of artwork quietly welcomes visitors. The floor where the reception area is located and the carpet on the floor create an artistic atmosphere. It was quite different from the image of a video game company with a large display of video game software packages.

This is also my wife’s intention. She said, “Since we do creative work, we wanted an office that would inspire a creative mindset. I felt the same way.

He speaks in a calm and quiet manner, not like a passionate game creator. In addition, he was brimming with a youthfulness that made it hard to believe that he was 75 years old.

He said, “Maybe it’s because I play games all the time (laughs).

In fact, he still spends his days playing games. When he wakes up at 5:00 in the morning, he plays games on his smartphone until 8:00. He comes to work at the company and gets involved in the game projects he produces, from the planning stage to the beta stage. Then, when he returns home at night, he plays games again.

I play games that are being talked about and games that are highly rated in game magazines. I want to get a good feel for what makes them interesting. I can’t really understand unless I try them myself.

Until he was in his 40s, he hardly took a day off. As expected, people pointed out his lack of exercise, so he started playing golf every week. Because I walk a lot. He had a period of time when he suffered from back pain, so he worked out his abdominal and back muscles. He also plays bass in a jazz band and performs four or five times a year.

Recently, I’ve been enjoying indie games. Individuals or small groups of people make games and sell them. It has an atmosphere similar to the old days of mail-order sales. However, the market is global, so the opportunities are great. New and unique companies will emerge from these places. I feel that we are entering a new era.

His motto is “Creation and Contribution. From unexpected encounters and coincidences, we have created unexpected value. That is why he is determined to bring to the world enjoyment that has never existed before. (Honorifics omitted)

From the January 2, 9 and 16, 2026 issue of FRIDAY