Toru Iwatani

Toru Iwatani

Toru Iwatani (January 25, 1955–) is a Japanese video game designer who spent much of his career working for Namco. He is best known as the creator of the arcade game Pac-Man (1980).

Quotes

• I never expected to see a day where people from around the world can connect via the Internet and communicate with others on smartphones. With how procedural generation technology and A.I. has greatly innovated game development, I believe the game industry will expand into games that are created to help solve problems within society.
  • Pac-Man's Creator On The Legacy, Pizza, And The Future (Jun 19, 2020)

• I don’t particularly see any reason why gender would play a major role in game development. Similar to fashion designers, creators are able to imagine what their customers want regardless of gender. I think that applies to video game development, too.
  • Pac-Man Creator Toru Iwatani on the 40th Anniversary of the First Video Game Blockbuster (6 Jul 2020)