Nobuyuki Fukumoto was born on December 10, 1958, in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. After graduating from a technical high school with a focus on architecture, he worked briefly as a site foreman at a construction company before leaving to pursue a career in manga. He made his professional debut in 1980 with the work Yoroshiku! Junjō Daishō, published in Monthly Shōnen Champion, but spent many subsequent years struggling to achieve commercial success while working part-time jobs. His fortunes changed in the late 1980s when he began specializing in gambling-themed stories, starting with the mahjong manga Ten, which became his first popular work.

Fukumoto is the original creator of numerous acclaimed manga series, many of which center on high-stakes gambling and psychological battles. Among his most notable works are Ten, Akagi, Gin to Kin, and the Kaiji series. The first arc of Kaiji, titled Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji, earned him the prestigious Kodansha Manga Award in 1998. Several of his manga have been adapted into anime, including Akagi which was televised in 2005, and the first Kaiji anime, titled Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor, which aired in 2007. The sequel, Kaiji: Against All Rules, based on the Gambling Breaking Kaiji arc, followed later. He was also involved in the Kaiji live-action films, making cameo appearances and writing the screenplays for the second and third movies.

Regarding the example of Chūkan Kanriroku Tonegawa, also known as Mr. Tonegawa: Middle Management Blues, Fukumoto is credited as a collaborator on the original manga. This series, which ran from 2015 to 2020, is a comedic spin-off of the Kaiji universe focusing on the executive Yukio Tonegawa. It was written by Tensei Hagiwara in collaboration with Fukumoto, with art by Tomohiro Hashimoto and Tomoki Miyoshi. The manga was adapted into an anime television series by the studio Madhouse, which aired from July to December 2018.

Fukumoto's artistic identity is highly distinctive and recognizable. His art style is characterized by sharp, angular character designs with prominent chins and noses, a trait he has openly acknowledged as a lack of conventional drawing skill. His narratives are defined by intense psychological suspense, deep explorations of human desperation and cunning, and a frequent use of ellipses and the onomatopoeia "zawa..." to depict an uneasy atmosphere. His works often pit downtrodden, clever protagonists against corrupt and powerful establishment figures, with a notable scarcity of female characters, a choice he has explained by stating that "the world of gambling doesn't need women".

In the manga industry, Fukumoto is a highly significant figure as a master of the gambling and psychological thriller genres. The Kaiji series alone has sold over 20 million copies, cementing his status as a commercially successful and influential creator. His unique thematic focus and narrative techniques have garnered a dedicated following and inspired other artists, solidifying his legacy as an original and visionary voice in manga and anime.