Gaming company Bandai Namco have announced the death of Masaya Nakamura, the “Father of Pac-Man”.

91-year-old Nakamura died on 22 January. The game designer started up his company Namco in 1955, and Pac-Man first went on sale in 1980.

The name “Pac” was chosen to represent the sound the character made when eating its prey.

The Guinness World Records named Pac-Man the world’s most successful coin-operated arcade game. It is estimated that the game has been played around 10 million times since it’s inception.

Bandai Namco has not realised any further information regarding the death of Nakamura.