Konami's video game franchises include Metal Gear, Silent Hill, Castlevania, Contra, Frogger, Tokimeki Memorial, Gradius, Parodius, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Suikoden, and eFootball.

Their first coin-operated video game was released in 1978, and they began exporting products to the United States the following year.

Konami began to achieve success with arcade games in the early 1980s, starting with Scramble (1981), followed by hits such as Frogger (1981), Super Cobra (1981), Time Pilot (1982), Roc'n Rope (1983), Track & Field (1983), and Yie Ar Kung-Fu (1985).

[11] Many of their early games were licensed to other companies for US release, including Centuri, Stern Electronics, Sega, and Gremlin Industries.

[17] The company released numerous games for the MSX home computer standard in 1983, followed by the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985.

[18][19][non-primary source needed] Numerous Konami franchises were established during this period on both platforms, as well as the arcades, such as Gradius, Castlevania, TwinBee, Ganbare Goemon, Contra, and Metal Gear, in addition to success with hit licensed games such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT).

Pachinko played a huge role in Konami's success as it started to popularize new never before seen characters.

As the company transitioned into developing video games for the sixth-generation consoles, they branched out into the health and fitness business acquiring People Co., Ltd and Daiei Olympic Sports Club, Inc. which became Konami subsidiaries.

In August 2001, the company invested in another video game publisher, Hudson Soft, which became a consolidated subsidiary after Konami accepted new third-party shares issued by them.

In January 2003, Avranches Automatique began handling sales of Konami's arcade games in Europe outside the U.K. and Ireland.

[13] On January 20, 2009, Electrocoin became the exclusive distributor and after-sale agent of Konami's arcade games in Europe, Russia, the Middle East, and Africa.

[29][30] The absorption of Hudson Soft in 2012 resulted in the addition of several other franchises including: Adventure Island, Bonk, Bloody Roar, Bomberman, Far East of Eden, and Star Soldier.

[31][32] In April 2015, Konami delisted itself from the New York Stock Exchange following the dissolution of their Kojima Productions subsidiary.

[35][non-primary source needed] In April 2023, Konami announced that it has opened a new studio in Osaka, Japan.

[66] Konami produced its shoot 'em up arcade games such as Gradius, Life Force, Time Pilot, Gyruss, Parodius, Axelay, and TwinBee.

Joe, X-Men, and The Goonies, and French comic Asterix all have seen release at some point in the past by Konami either on arcades and/or video game consoles.

Another successful franchise is Winning Eleven, the spiritual sequel to International Superstar Soccer.

The company had obtained the rights to Saw from Brash Entertainment when the game's production had been suspended due to financial issues.

This partnership aims to enhance eFootball's visibility and attract new players, particularly those who were deterred by previous issues with the game.

[70] On 4 December 2020 Deadline reported that Oscar Isaac will star as Solid Snake in the adaptation, which is currently in development at Sony Pictures with Jordan Vogt-Roberts on board to direct.

[33] Game co-director and writer Guillermo del Toro publicly criticized the cancellation as not making any sense and questioned what he described as a "scorched earth" approach to removing the trailer.

[85] On 3 March 2015, Konami announced they would be shifting focus away from individual studios, notably Kojima Productions.

Internal sources claimed the restructure was due to a clash between Hideo Kojima and Konami.