Konami is Going Full on Stupid

[Space Suicide]

Thought it deserves it's own thread as nostalgia, game history and franchises will be going down the toilet due to statements issued and made by someone VERY close in the company to the inner workings. Here is a photo transcript for the statement. This is about more than Hideo Kojima, MGS and Silent Hills....it's so much bigger than that. True or not (seems legit) it's worth a look.

http://i.imgur.com/wZrhM7V.jpg

[Conan The Barbarian]

Quick, someone enter the code and save them!

[Wretchedest]

Promising and then killing Silent Hills and pulling PT is the last straw. Konami can die in a fire. Absolutely fuck who ever made those calls.

[liquidcalm]

What they need to do (in my my "I don't work for you, I rarely buy your games, I'm on the internet" opinion) is just be clear what is going on. Their official statements are vague, people attached to projects are spreading their side of the story (which by all cases could be/is true) and their staff are apparently gagged. Just be honest about what is going on, plans etc. If they are going to end development of games, say so. If they are exiting the console business, say so (and sell your wealth of IPs to someone who gives a fuck).
Yes I know Japanese companies are secretive and very... different to western counterparts, but the West is the biggest market for AAA games, and for a company to turn away from that and look inward at mobile and arcades, which are the bigger proposition in Japan, is not actually that much of a surprise when looking at the costs of large console games. But if we are going to stop seeing games of that scale on our systems, then at least let us know rather than hang the carrot of 'well maybe we are still looking at silent hill'.

[GibbonBlack]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynl4sIFazmM

[Dr Channard]

A key executive at Konami has said the company will "pursue mobile games aggressively" going forward, and that smartphones will be considered as its "main platform." (http://www.gamespot.com/articles/metal-gear-publisher-konami-mobile-is-now-our-main/1100-6427329/)

[thelastdisciple]

R.I.P. Konami

[Space Suicide]

Mobile gaming is the lowest form of "gaming" if you could even call it that, even if big in Japan. I consider mobile games bottom of the barrel, highway robbery releases that have no sole purpose other than money. yeah, console games are like that now too, to an extent, but this is ridiculous.

[Piko]

A youtuber by the name of Super Bunnyhop did a video about the whole debacle with Komani and Kojima, and how poorly Konami has gone about it:

https://youtu.be/iMK-kajdgMA

Konami then tries to swat the video down, unsuccessfully. Leading me to believe that there's probably some truth in the rumors, etc.

https://youtu.be/0nwPPYkd8gs

There's definitely some money to be made in mobile. It's not the future of gaming though. Maybe the change in direction is part of why Kojima got the axe. As a video game publisher, it seems like they're done. In that case, hopefully they will sell off the rights to their games (MGS, Silent Hill, Castlevania, etc.). I'm buying MGSV, as it's a game i've been waiting for, and Kojima's last MGS game. After that, i'm done with whatever Konami does.

[ImTheWiseJanitor]

You pretty much summed it up. If we're truly saying goodbye to the Konami we know and love, then I'll probably be in the same boat. Whatever's really going on over there is nuts. I can only hope that SOMETHING good comes from this.

AND SO HELP ME GOD IF WE DON'T GET ZONE OF THE ENDERS 3 BECAUSE OF THIS SHIT. HEADS WILL ROLL.

[Piko]

I feel sorry for whoever is in charge of their PR, and anyone who deals with the bashlash from the front line. Konami could easily have said a complete fabrication, and it would've been better than the way they're really going about all this. And I think ZOE is dead, unless they sell it off. Crossing my fingers that they sell their IPs to developers who can take proper care of these franchises. Konami clearly isn't going to do that. I'm sure there's a few publishes out there that could buy MGS and SH in a heartbeat.

[Space Suicide]

I feel sorry for whoever is in charge of their PR, and anyone who deals with the bashlash from the front line. Konami could easily have said a complete fabrication, and it would've been better than the way they're really going about all this. And I think ZOE is dead, unless they sell it off. Crossing my fingers that they sell their IPs to developers who can take proper care of these franchises. Konami clearly isn't going to do that. I'm sure there's a few publishes out there that could buy MGS and SH in a heartbeat.

I know they don't have the money but it'd be hilarious if Capcom bought Silent Hill.

[ziltoid]

I don't know if you guys knew this but after Iga left konami he tried his hand at crowdsourcing a new game that is akin to symphony of the night.
What didn't surprised me is that it got fully funded within the first hour it went live.
What did surprise me was the amount of money Iga got within the first hour. I believe the kickstarter got fully funded within just one hour of going live.
Goes to show how outdated konami is and the fact that Iga proved to developers, including konami, that people want castlevania like games.
I'm glad Iga left konami to pursue his dream game.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/iga/bloodstained-ritual-of-the-night
I can't wait for this to come out.

[Piko]

I saw that. Raised almost two million last time I checked. I'll definitely check it out when it comes out. He also kinda confirmed some of the things about konami.

[Wretchedest]

This is just the latest in a trend among japanese game developers. ZOE didnt die with Konami, Konami killed ZOE ten years ago when they stopped making ZOE games.
Same almost every japanese game developer Nintendo. It is insane to see what is going on over there. Square (the eastern end), Sega, Konami, Capcom, all companies respected for building the medium are all just sad wastelands that lack innovation and modern design skills.

First, they wasted billions designing motion control schemes that nobody wanted and everybody hated, sacrificing story telling for a gimmick that ultimately set gaming back five years. When that didnt work they sunk the enitrety of their budgets into "safe" projects like Metal Gear and Final Fantasy, that ultimately have corner case fanbases, and they did it by spinning off those franchises into, again, frivolous bullshit that nobody wanted, instead of the amazing character and gameplay driven stories that gave them their names.

Now that that hasnt worked they are sheepishly withdrawing into other fields like fucking pachinko and mobile gaming, meanwhile nickel and diming what's left of their core fanbases, like fucking Street fighter and Resident Evil.

And sadly its all bleeding into western development, and I see history repeating itself with time wasting nonsense like the Oculus rift and other VR technology, which is both prohibitively expensive for the average consumer and counter intuitive and difficult to use for even hardcore gamers like me. We already are at a point where companies like Blizzard and Valve squander their potential on free to play skinner boxes and milk old properties dry. But when their investments in Steam Boxes and headsets fail, I can see it getting pretty bad. Other companies will try to "catch up" and build there own, nobody will buy this shit and then we will be ten years behind. Will we have to a wait another 8 years for better gaming technology? By the time games are built with 4K in mind other media may already move on to even better technology, and games will still look and feel only marginally better than they do now.

We need innovation, but what we need is better motion capture, facial animation, and particle physics technologies, things that bring about a sense of realism, improve immersion and therefore enhance storytelling and gameplay. Unfortunately all of the big boys in the room are a bunch of cowards, sitting on their hands and waiting for the other guys to make the first move.

[Dr Channard]

I know they don't have the money but it'd be hilarious if Capcom bought Silent Hill.

I wish anybody who had good intensions for the franchise would buy the rights, but I bet Konami would rather just sit on it for now than sell it. Anyway, it sounds like they do have plans for the franchise as they indicated “discussions on future Silent Hill projects are currently underway, and please stay tuned for further announcements." Future projects on consoles or mobile? Guess we’ll have to wait to find out.

You’d think Sony and Microsoft would be unhappy to lose games important to the success of their consoles. You’d think they’d try to pull strings to keep titles like MGS and SH on their platforms. I don’t own a PS4 or an XBO, and to be honest the only thing so far to really entice me to buy a PS4 was P.T. and the prospect of a return to form for future SH games. But with the way this all went down, I’m glad I opted not to buy anything just yet.

[Substance242]

...and I'm still waiting for The Last Guardian (Project Trico). No, it's not directly Konami related, I know.

[liquidcalm]

......

Now that that hasnt worked they are sheepishly withdrawing into other fields like fucking pachinko and mobile gaming, meanwhile nickel and diming what's left of their core fanbases, like fucking Street fighter and Resident Evil.

And sadly its all bleeding into western development, and I see history repeating itself with time wasting nonsense like the Oculus rift and other VR technology, which is both prohibitively expensive for the average consumer and counter intuitive and difficult to use for even hardcore gamers like me. We already are at a point where companies like Blizzard and Valve squander their potential on free to play skinner boxes and milk old properties dry. But when their investments in Steam Boxes and headsets fail, I can see it getting pretty bad. Other companies will try to "catch up" and build there own, nobody will buy this shit and then we will be ten years behind. Will we have to a wait another 8 years for better gaming technology? By the time games are built with 4K in mind other media may already move on to even better technology, and games will still look and feel only marginally better than they do now.

We need innovation, but what we need is better motion capture, facial animation, and particle physics technologies, things that bring about a sense of realism, improve immersion and therefore enhance storytelling and gameplay. Unfortunately all of the big boys in the room are a bunch of cowards, sitting on their hands and waiting for the other guys to make the first move.

Just to be the contrarian for a moment (and also say I agree with this 100%), but there is the nature of money involved, and sadly while the consoles are selling well, I don't think developers and publishers are actually generating sustainable profit. One game that 'fails' can ruin a company these days, which means investment in new ideas and innovation is low. Look at Nintendo, the only thing that pushed them into profits was selling 10million figures with NFC chips in the bottom, and I'm sure a lot of people buying those don't own half of the games they work with, and thats an idea they took from Activision. Yeah, gamers want the very best, and the industry is huge, bigger than Hollywood, but it is buoyed by fads, microtransactions and a few key blockbusters that hit the mainstream. Konami have not been focusing on consoles for a long time, and while I don't want to see their IP disappear, if they can't afford to make AAA games, then really, they have no business reason to carry on throwing money at such risks

[Piko]

Konami Dickery continues. Any mention of Kojima on the box art is no more. No Kojima Productions. Nothing. My bet is that it won't be mentioned in the game either. Hopefully there's some sort of Easter egg that tells konami "fuck you". And apparently interviewers aren't allowed to even mention Kojima. Some petty shit.

[Dr Channard]

Konami Dickery continues...

Yeah. It would be nice if somebody would just set the record straight and tell what this is all about. That official Konami statement of “oh, we’re just refocusing the brand on mobile gaming, but don’t fret, we aren’t giving up on MGS or SH.” doesn’t address why they have gone about all this business in such an alienating manner.

Also, sinking money into those SH films was a terrible move, and the last several game installments are essentially of bargain bin quality. Add in the killing of Silent Hills, and now this franchise currently has one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel. I don’t have much hope for their next move for either franchise, especially if they become some bullshit pay to win mobile games.

[Frozen Beach]

New Silent Hill is a pachinko slot machine....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ht4dbyPIcM

Yeah, Konami can go fuck themselves.

[Maximilian]

Yeah, it looks bad but the Japanese pachinko slot machine players might be foaming at the mouth to try it out, we don't know.

I know I'm still giving them money when Metal Gear Solid 5 hits in a month.

[Piko]

Not sure what that even is... But, if konami decides today that they will not release video games anymore, it will likely not affect them too much. They're not really a publisher anymore. They release a few games here and there, but I don't consider them a major publisher anymore. Less than a month away from mgs5. After that, I'm done with them.

[Dr Channard]

New Silent Hill is a pachinko slot machine....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ht4dbyPIcM

*In my best Elvis voice* ahem… VIVAAA VIVAAA SILENT HIIIIIILL!!!

[Piko]

So, this happened...

http://kotaku.com/geoff-keighley-konami-barred-hideo-kojima-from-accepti-1746111339?newstream=on&utm_expid=66866090-71.ZDl_b8uGQgG7HBI5sxDRgQ.2&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com