Koei President and COO Resigns For 'Personal Reasons'

Officials from Japanese-headquartered publisher and developer Koei (Dynasty Warriors series) have confirmed that the company's president and chief operating officer Kiyoshi Komatsu has resigned, citing “personal reasons" for the executive's departure. Kenji Matsubara, who ran the online, mobile and action games software division for Koei in Japan, has been appointed as Komatsu's replacement. Founded in 1978, Koei began with war and strategy PC games such as Battle at Kawanakajima and Investment Game, though these titles were later followed by more well known releases such as Nobunaga's Ambition in 1981 and Romance of the Three Kingdoms in 1983. While the company has stayed the course with its emphasis on niche strategy games over the years, as well as one-offs such as iNiS' Gitarooman, it has also enjoyed considerable success with the Shin Sangoku Musou (aka Dynasty Warriors) series of action games. In addition, the company recently opened a new studio in Canada, currently developing the futuristic race game Fatal Inertia for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and has announced it is preparing an exclusive original IP for the Wii with its new 'lifestyle RPG' Opoona.