The company was founded on July 31, 1967, as Tehkan, primarily producing cleaning equipment. By 1969, it started to sell amusement equipment. In July 1969, the company started to sell entertainment amusement equipment and opened its first self-managed amusement facility in March 1970 in
Chiba Prefecture. By 2002, Tecmo stopped producing new arcade games. On January 1, 2006, Tecmo president, Junji Nakamura, steps down while Yoshimi Yasuda was named his successor. Nakamura becomes chairman of Tecmo until his resignation from the company on February 1, 2006. On July 18, 2006, Tecmo's founder, Yoshihito Kakihara, died of
interstitial pneumonia at the age of 67. This was followed by another lawsuit filed on 16 June by two plaintiffs on behalf of Tecmo's 300 employees for unpaid wages amounting to ¥8.3 million.
Merger with Koei On August 20, 2008, Tecmo announced the resignation of president Yoshimi Yasuda, to be replaced by current chairman of the board Yasuharu Kakihara as of September 1. On August 29, 2008
Square Enix made plans for a friendly takeover of Tecmo by purchasing shares at a 30 percent premium with a total bid of
¥22.3 billion. On September 4, 2008, Tecmo officially declined the takeover proposal. Tecmo subsequently engaged in talks with
Koei about a possible merger between the two companies, and agreed in November 2008 to merge on April 1, 2009, to form
Tecmo Koei Holdings. On January 26, 2009, the two companies officially announced the merger, and the holding company formed on April 1, 2009, as planned. Tecmo initially continued to be operated as a subsidiary and brandname of Tecmo Koei Holdings. In January 2010, the United States subsidiaries of Tecmo Inc. and Koei America merged to create Tecmo Koei America Corporation. Tecmo was effectively declared disbanded in Japan on April 1, 2010, as part of a major international reorganization within Tecmo Koei Holdings. Relevant intellectual properties were slated to be further managed by Koei Tecmo Games. This new company was initially called "Tehkan" to avoid confusion with the other company that was still operating for another two weeks. When Tecmo disbanded on April 1, 2010, Tekhan was renamed Tecmo. This was short-lived as the new Tecmo along with the new Koei video game developers were both dissolved and merged into Koei Tecmo Games a year later, on April 1, 2011. Despite having been dissolved twice as a legal entity, Tecmo continued to appear as a label on video games by Koei Tecmo Games until another corporate reorganization in 2016 abandoned the brand name for good. Video games by Koei Tecmo Games marketed with the Tecmo logotype included
Dead or Alive 5, ''
Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge and Deception IV: The Nightmare Princess''. ==Divisions==