Games

[Hanged Man]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1046059

"We will pursue mobile games aggressively," says Konami's new CEO Hayakawa in an interview with Nikkei Trendy Net.

"Our main platform will be mobiles. Following the pay-as-you-play model of games like Power pro and Winning Eleven with additional content, our games must move from selling things like "items" to selling things like "features."

"We saw with these games that even people who buy physical games are motivated to buy extra content. The success of Power pro especially has motivated us to actively push more of our popular series onto mobile than ever before."

"Gaming has spread to a number of platforms, but at the end of the day, the platform that is always closest to us, is mobile. Mobile is where the future of gaming lies."

"We hope that our overseas games such as MGSV and Winning Eleven continue to do well, but we are always thinking about how to push our franchises onto mobile there too."

"With multiplatform games, there's really no point in dividing the market into categories anymore. Mobiles will take on the new role of linking the general public to the gaming world."

http://jin115.com/archives/52080348.html

[El Chaos]

Official English message: http://www.konami-digital-entertainment ... ssage.html

The Power to Create, to Refine, and to Deliver


Thank you for your continued patronage of KONAMI products and services.

Over the years, Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd. has been shaped by three major "waves" of entertainment revolutions. The first was the establishment of our company via arcade games in the 1970s, the second was our entry into home consoles in the 1980s, and the third was our business shift to meet the mobile gaming trend in the 2010s.Throughout each of these turbulent changes to the entertainment landscape, we have consistently stayed at the fore thanks to our customers and the great efforts of our employees and all other persons involved. I would like to take this opportunity to offer my heartfelt gratitude to each and every one of you.

Digital entertainment is a business in which companies can freely adjust their approaches to meet the requirements of the times. We have steadfastly pushed ourselves toward new and greater heights in order to meet the needs of our customers, and this concept of "catching the crest of the next wave" has always defined the way we operate.

Our business model to date has offered only limited means for customers to engage with our games, and vice versa. Our approach has been to deliver digital entertainment for specific systems, using the constraints of the medium as a springboard to innovating new game design. This meant our industry competitiveness relied upon taking a specialist approach and refining our products to be world-class hits.

However, in the current industry where the very term "game" has come to refer to a broader range of content than ever before, the ways in which our customers and games engage with one another are in a constant state of change. We can no longer rely on specializing in delivering to narrow, specific systems as our means of doing business.

KONAMI has a number of AAA game franchises that fans have loved for decades, in addition to a core competency demonstrated by the countless examples of industry-leading game design we have produced over the years. Looking forward, it is our aim to use these assets to the fullest as we respond to customer needs with lightning speed.

People's interests are changing. Where once the possession of tangible objects was important, there is now an increasing shift toward valuing the intangible ? experiences and memories. Games are no exception. We will continue to find new ways to surprise and amaze our customers, and we look forward to delivering the kind of digital entertainment that will put a smile on your face as well as that of everyone playing along with you, all around the world.


Hideki Hayakawa,
Representative Director, President

[icycalm]

The problem with Kojima is that he can't turn to Kickstarter like the Mighty No. 9 and Bloodstained devs, because Kickstarter cannot raise the 50 million or whatever that is necessary for a game like Metal Gear Solid. So if he goes it alone he'll have to go back to 2D stealth lol or stuff like Boktai.

On the other hand, Chris Roberts DID raise 70 million or whatever, but not exactly through Kickstarter (and to be honest, I still can't believe that number is real, and I suspect that he's making it up for whatever reason. How would we even be able to check up on his claims anyway, if a third party isn't involved?)

If no Japanese company is prepared to make the investment required for an MGS type game anymore (especially now that it's gone free-roaming), and if Kojima wants to continue pursuing them, the only solution is a Western company. So either Kojima moves to a Western country, or a Western company pays for him to run his own studio in Japan.

I don't see any other possibility.

[icycalm]

MS should snatch him. Kojima exclusivity on the One would be a huge attraction for the system.

Or he should go work for From. He'd do very well broadening their appeal from boring dungeon crawlers to more varied stuff that people actually want to play, and raising the profile of the company and its market value.

[icycalm]

Basically, he would do well at and be an asset for whatever place he went to. That's what it means to be the best.

As for where he would be able to maximize his effectiveness... That only he can figure out.

[El Chaos]

As I understand it, most of the senior personnel from Kojima Productions would be leaving Konami along with Kojima, so perhaps they would follow on Platinum's footsteps? I'm not sure if he'd appreciate being "forced" to develop games for a seemingly inferior system, and I can't quite imagine him developing for PC...

And I wonder what will happen with the Fox Engine. Konami already used it for the latest couple Winning Eleven games, so I guess it belongs to them and not KP?

[icycalm]

The Xbox One is only marginally inferior to the PS4, and in any case if you develop exclusively for it you can create something far superior to a multiplatform title like MGS5. So in terms of power, it goes like this:

1. PC exclusive
2. PC version of a multiplatform title
3. PS4 exclusive
4. One exclusive
5. PS4 version of a multiplatform title
6. One version of a multiplatform title

The best version of MGS5 is #5, but if Kojima went to work for Microsoft he'd be making #4 games, which is better than what he's making now. Do you see?

I am sure he'd have no problems making PC games either. Especially when VR headsets come in the equation, and the consoles prove woefully underpowered to fully utilize them.

Of course he'd have to switch to first-person games to make proper VR titles... but that's the future of videogames anyway. The question is if he's up to the challenge and whether he'll be part of it.

[El Chaos]

Yes, I see, but of course I can imagine him preferring to go with #3 if given a choice, especially taking into consideration his whole history with Sony hardware.

And we can't forget MGS5 is also a cross-generation title, so in its very concept it's still limited by PS3/360 hardware.

[icycalm]

It wouldn't matter if MGS5 was on the Game Boy Color too for the purposes of this discussion. If it were an Xbox One exclusive it would still look better than a PS4 version not shackled to 360/PS3 performance.

And if he would prefer #3 if given a choice, he would prefer #1 if given even more choice (by being hired by Valve or Facebook/Oculus for example).

Either he prefers power above all, therefore the higher up that list the better, or he doesn't, in which case he could turn to mobile development like the rest of Japan.

I mean look at Platinum. Multiplatorm, Wii exclusive, Wii U exclusives, Xbox One exclusive: they will work on anything they can, and turn out the best looking games available for each respective platform. I think Kojima would do the same thing. And Platinum hasn't made any PC ports yet, but Kojima has (which means he's worked up to #2, whereas Platinum only up to #4, if we include the yet to be released Scalebound).

[El Chaos]

Yeah, I was discussing the same thing with a friend of mine a couple days ago and we also thought Kojima would do well to work with third-party publishers on a per-project basis, that might also give him room to experiment and have fun with each platform's unique features more in-depth, like the Wii U's GamePad.

And by the way, let's not forget the best version for MGR is also #2, heh.

[Some guy]

Ground Zeroes has also been ported to the PC and The Phantom Pain will be released on it too.

[El Chaos]

http://kotaku.com/report-konami-is-trea ... 1721700073

Report: Konami Is Treating Its Staff Like Prisoners

According to a report on Nikkei, the corporate culture at Konami—home of Metal Gear, Silent Hill and Pro Evolution Soccer—hasn’t only soured over the past few years, but has become almost terrifyingly Orwellian.

Nikkei’s report alleges that the culture at the corporation’s video game division, famous for its console games, worsened in around 2010 when a mobile title called Dragon Collection became a smash hit. As a social game for phones, development costs were low and profit returns were huge. Not long after, the report says, Konami’s corporate bosses shifted the company’s focus away from traditional, hardcore games and towards cheaper, and potentially more lucrative social titles.

(Somewhat related, the same Nikkei report says that Metal Gear Solid V’s development costs have surpassed 10 billion yen/US$80 million).

In a country where mobile gaming has exploded in popularity, the fact Konami has pivoted to this type of offering isn’t in itself surprising. What is, however, are some of the office conditions Nikkei reports have arisen as a result of the shift, especially with regards to how Konami treats employees.

Here’s a breakdown of the Nikkei piece’s allegations. Some of it we’ve heard before. Some of it is new:

• Kojima Productions, the studio behind the upcoming Metal Gear Solid V (and long famous as a brand of its own), is now simply known as “Number 8 Production Department.” The computers in this section, Nikkei says (and as we reported earlier this year), are allegedly not connected to the internet and are only able to send internal messages.
  
• Nikkei reports that employees leaving the company offices during their lunch break are having their absences monitored with time cards. Those who stay out too long are having their names announced throughout the company.
  
• That there are cameras in the office corridors that aren’t there for security, but rather to monitor the movements of Konami’s own employees.
  
• That most Konami employees do not have their own permanent company email addresses. Staff who must deal with people outside the company, such as sales and PR do; however, everyone else routinely has their address randomised and changed every few months. (Note: Konami employee emails are typically a few letters followed by a string of numbers, but this random email changing has been going on at Konami for years. A while back, one Konami employee told me this was done to prevent headhunting. Over the years, I have seen developers with company email addresses, but this might have changed recently.)
  
• That Konami game developers who aren’t seen as useful are reassigned to jobs as security guards, cleaning staff at the company’s fitness clubs or roles at a pachi-slot machine factory. This includes not just junior staff, but producers who have worked on well-known game titles. In 2013, Asahi News, one of Japan’s largest newspapers, ran an interview with a former Konami staffer who allegedly went from game development to working in Konami’s pachi-slot factory, causing him to experience severe depression.
  
• That one former employee, upon announcing on Facebook that they were leaving Konami and had got a new job elsewhere, had their post monitored. Nikkei says remaining Konami staff who “liked” the post were all reshuffled within the company.

Kotaku is following up with Konami for comment.

[Some guy]

Konami ceases triple-A console production on all but PES - report
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015- ... pes-report

Konami has ceased all triple-A console game production on everything but Pro Evolution Soccer and there are currently no plans for a big new Metal Gear game, while worldwide technology director Julien Merceron has left the company. That's according to a pair of reports on French site Gameblog. Eurogamer understands both reports to be true.

Gameblog wrote yesterday that Merceron was apparently unhappy with Konami's transition away from the console market towards mobile games.

Beyond Metal Gear Online - the separate online component to Metal Gear Solid 5 that is currently being finished - and Pro Evolution Soccer 2016, Konami has a blank triple-A slate. It does however have the licence to the football tournament Euro 2016, so we'd expect it to make use of that.

Problems at Konami were highlighted earlier in the year when Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima left the company and his Kojima Productions studio was dissolved. He had reportedly fallen out with Konami's big bosses who refused to bankroll his long and lavish productions any longer. Metal Gear Solid 5 reportedly cost $80m to make. Any new Metal Gear Solid game Konami produces will presumably be made without Kojima involved.

Further problems at Konami were highlighted when respected financial Japanese newspaper Nikkei ran an article about a deteriorating company culture at Konami's game division. Employees "deemed useless" were apparently given menial and degrading tasks, and communication with outsiders was restricted and lunch breaks monitored.

What comes next for Konami, and for Kojima, we'll have to wait and see.