Good news first PES demo on the 13th Aug!!
Bad news, here is a report coming out of Japan talking about the affairs of Konami, not great reading for any fans of video games:
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The article claims Konami spent more than $80 million on the development of Metal Gear Solid V. While it's unclear whether the ballooning budget was a factor in the highly-publicised fallout between series creator Hideo Kojima and Konami, CEO of a Tokyo-based game industry consultancy Serkan Toto has claimed Kojima's fall from grace occurred because MGS V was delayed.
The piece also alleges problems at Konami extend far further than just those being seen by the public thanks to Kojima's visibility. Issues apparently started back in 2010 following the success of mobile game Dragon Collection - it was then the company started to see low-cost high-profit titles as a desirable area for focus, especially when contrasted with expensive console games.
With this in mind, it shouldn't surprise anyone to hear development on titles in the Love Plus and Suikoden franchises have both been halted, with the creator of the former having also left the company.
Kojima Reportedly Leaves Konami, Konami Responds - IGN News
01:23
The culture at the company is also explored, with cameras apparently placed in the corridors to monitor employee movements, while time cards are used to monitor how long everyone is taking for lunch, with those deemed to be taking too long being named and shamed throughout the company.
Most Konami employees aren't given their own email addresses. While sales and PR staff who have to communicate with outsiders do have permanent addresses, many others have one that is routinely randomised every few months.
Any members of staff "deemed useless" are apparently reassigned to other jobs, including assembly line work at Konami's pachi-slot machine factory, working as security guards and even cleaning up at company fitness clubs. Those affected allegedly include more than just junior staff, with senior producers hit in some instances. This is supported by a 2013 interview by Asahi News in which a former Konami employee was shunted from game development to working in a pachi-slot factory, causing him to suffer severe depression.
In another instance, one employee announced on Facebook he was leaving the company for a new job. This post was then monitored by senior company officials, with any other employees who "Liked" the status reshuffled within the organisation.
Nikkei has attempted to reach out to Konami founder Kagemasa Kozuki for comment without success.
Konami recently announced it was planning to focus on mobile games in future, though this has apparently been somewhat misreported. The company has previously reiterated its commitment to creating new titles in the Metal Gear Solid and Silent Hills franchises going forward, while entries in the yearly Pro Evolution Soccer series aren't likely to disappear overnight.
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So with the lose of one of games most influential producers where does this leave Konami. Well i honestly think in a lot of trouble, and i will go further in saying that i could certainly see Konami selling off rights to the console games and just going full on mobile. There are already reports that Del Toro and Kojima are joining forces, so maybe the spiritual successor to Silent Hill?
What do we think? Another one bites the dust? Or will they do as promised and keep the games coming?
PS. Sorry about the wall of text but I felt it was all pretty relevant!
Some dire reading......and some good news!!
posted on 3/8/15
This highllights very well how big the gamble is creating modern AAA titles, PS2 era games were far less expensive to create where todays games need literally hundreds of people pulling together to create them.
As a business you couldn't be too critical of a company no matter how well known looking into the lesser financial gamble and possibly far more lucrative option of mobile gaming.
The future is not all rosy, those criticising the percieved lack of AAA titles this gen are being a little disingenuous to the Developers trying to create them.
The biggest loss isn't Konami, the biggest loss could be the future of AAA gaming
posted on 4/8/15
comment by Amigawolf no longer MIA (U18508)
posted 20 hours, 26 minutes ago
This highllights very well how big the gamble is creating modern AAA titles, PS2 era games were far less expensive to create where todays games need literally hundreds of people pulling together to create them.
As a business you couldn't be too critical of a company no matter how well known looking into the lesser financial gamble and possibly far more lucrative option of mobile gaming.
The future is not all rosy, those criticising the percieved lack of AAA titles this gen are being a little disingenuous to the Developers trying to create them.
The biggest loss isn't Konami, the biggest loss could be the future of AAA gaming
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This is all very possible. The AAA games are such massive projects these days that ultimately fewer and fewer companies will have the resources to commit to them.
This may mean that only the big boys are making the games, which will 1) mean less variation, 2) fewer games and 3) longer between them.
Of course it is still possible for lower budget games to come and out be success (see Rocket League recently), and video games do seem to be bigger business than ever... so I wouldn't say that what you're predicting is a foregone conclusion. But certainly something to be mindful of.
As you've said on other threads, I imagine that the next gen of consoles (which may well be VR influenced) will change the landscape again completely.
posted on 6/8/15
My only hope is that they don't revert to only making the AAA titles that are already successful. There seems to be a dearth at the moment in new AAA games/franchises and that to me is more of an issue.
We see endless repeats of old franchises on an annual basis and sadly I don't think there will be many more in the future. I can't think of any new games coming out that will really change the gaming world, VR may have an affect but it is far more likely we will see CoD VR.
It seems it will be left to much smaller indie producers and kickstart funding to change this trend. It would be interesting to see though how many kickstart projects actually make it to release, nevermind success.
posted on 7/8/15
Another boring PES on the way. PES 2010 was the last decent PES. Konami might as well stop making PES for all I care i'm tired of disappointment after disappointment