Masaya Nakamura has died at the age of 91. Known as “the father of Pac-Man,” Nakamura founded the company that introduced the world to the famous arcade game. Nakamura’s death was confirmed on Monday.

Nakamura founded Namco in 1955, and what began as two simple mechanical horse rides at a department store eventually morphed into a giant gaming corporation.

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“Pac-Man” arrived in 1980, designed by Namco engineer and game maker Toru Iwatani. Nakamura helped develop the name and was said to be integral to the game’s success. “Pac-Man” became an immediate hit and the game with the yellow gobbler became the most successful coin-operated game of all time, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. It is estimated by some to have been played over 10 billion times.

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The game became so culturally significant, it inspired everything from a breakfast cereal to a merchandise line that included T-shirts.

Though once found only in arcades, “Pac-Man” can now be played on cellphones or on Playstation or Xbox gaming consoles.

Namco, which merged with Bandai in 2005 and is now known as Namco Bandai Entertainment, was also behind popular games like “Ridge Racer” and “Tekken.”

Nakamura was inducted into the International Video Game Hall of Fame at the Big Bang Gaming Extravaganza in 2010.

The cause of Nakamura’s death has not been released, per the wishes of his family.