Kojima exits Konami

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sticky-runes
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Re: Kojima exits Konami

Post by sticky-runes »

Wow. Screw the video games that let us go on missions shooting enemies in the head and using lethal combat skills, or games where we have to survive nightmares filled with freaky monsters that want to rip your head off, or games that let us use magical powers to fight against monsters and wage war to liberate a country in turmoil, and lets focus on video games based on a sport that people can play in real life. :idea:
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Re: Kojima exits Konami

Post by KFCrispy »

yeah... i think the information i got about Pro Evolution Soccer being Konami's top video game in terms of profitability is actually in the IGN conversation i posted earlier in this thread.
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Re: Kojima exits Konami

Post by Oppenheimer »

The good news is that The Water Margin myth isn't copywritable so another company could totally do a Suikoden spiritual successor. It just couldn't have all the places and characters that we know and love.
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sticky-runes
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Re: Kojima exits Konami

Post by sticky-runes »

Maybe Bethesda could do a RPG with 108 recruitable characters. And it could have a sh!t load of bugs that prevent us from successfully recruiting all 108 characters.
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Re: Kojima exits Konami

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Then you could pay Steam and Bethesda for fan-made DLC that fixes the issues.
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BrucePrintscreen
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Re: Kojima exits Konami

Post by BrucePrintscreen »

Maybe Sega can do a Suikoden in which Viktor is a werewolf and Flik has huge shoulders.
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Re: Kojima exits Konami

Post by Rooks »

I've certainly let my opinion on this be known before, but I might as well do it here, too:

This is best seen as the culmination of a 15-year arc for the company. In 2003 or so, the decentralization of power began, and Konami transitioned into more of a holding company, with each arm having large amounts of autonomy. This was already something of a semi-retirement for Kagemasa. Well, the whole thing did not work out. Kojima largely went his own way, but was forced to still make only Metal Gear games, which he never wanted to do; he has been looking to hand off the series since MGS2.

Incompetent American brand managers outsourced the strongest titles to incompetent third-parties, and the results were entirely predictable and apparent. Actually, I did like SH: Downpour a bit, but for the most part, it was a disaster. Rumor has it that Sakamoto and Kojima cannot stand one another, but don't believe that. They barely know one another, and the rumor has actually changed: first it was Kagemasa that could not stand him, now it is Sakamoto. . . In reality, the two barely know one another, the issue is simply that Kojima doesn't want to make Metal Gear any more. Not very dramatic I know, but that is how it is.

So, in 2014 the board of directors was reconstituted, and restructuring of the company began to undo what was done in 2003. Production teams were consolidated, and I expect heavy exodus from formerly Kojima LA studios, as well as the talent he takes with him. What we want to watch for is heavy exodus from the Japanese staff. This will indicate that they are indeed switching to mobile-only. Until that happens, remember that all those lame articles are all single anonymous source articles. Seriously guys, come on. For all we know this could lead to a reform of KCET/J. So, it is the simple fact that we do not really know anything yet.

Also, Konami is way too proud to sell off their titles. At worst, they would just license them for fees to third parties. So, there is no way that any third party would make a Suikoden game for now. It would take at least a few years for that to happen, and if it does, I hope we can count on your support, because likely we will be lobbying for that license.
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Re: Kojima exits Konami

Post by Antimatzist »

What we want to watch for is heavy exodus from the Japanese staff. This will indicate that they are indeed switching to mobile-only.
How many more people do you want to leave Konami until you have enough evidence? I can't think of a lot of remaining famous names or teams around agame series. Konami has nothing in their sleeves, or they'd had shown something at E3. If their TGS show also only consists of MGS and PES, ther eis nothing indicating something good at the company.
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Re: Kojima exits Konami

Post by Rooks »

I'm talking about a large exodus, not of names we would know, but of middle and low-level workers. Texture artists, 3D modelers, sound engineers, QA teams, etc. An exodus of anything more than two dozen would be pretty worrisome. For now, Konami has already announced new MGS and Silent Hill games, and is likely quietly allowing Platinum to work on MGR2. Again, it will likely take two to three years for things to become clear.
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Re: Kojima exits Konami

Post by Antimatzist »

Rooks wrote:I'm talking about a large exodus, not of names we would know, but of middle and low-level workers. Texture artists, 3D modelers, sound engineers, QA teams, etc. An exodus of anything more than two dozen would be pretty worrisome. For now, Konami has already announced new MGS and Silent Hill games, and is likely quietly allowing Platinum to work on MGR2. Again, it will likely take two to three years for things to become clear.
But what can these middle class workers do without a creative head? No MGS or SH has been announced, they just said they want to continue these series. I doubt Platinum has the ressources to work on yet another game, they seem really busy at the moment.

I'll repeat my pnt. Showing "nothing" at E3 is just bad. Especially when so much exciting news emerged.
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Re: Kojima exits Konami

Post by Rooks »

What would we really want out of E3? with the controversy still raging and everyone hating Konami, a low profile at E3 is the best thing for them. TGS is always where Suikoden games have been announced. I am giving a roughly 1-in-3 chance that we will see a Suikoden announcement there. Keep in mind, it will likely be for 3DS or Vita, and will likely be outside the world of contradiction, but that will simply be the way that it is for now.

Konami will back off of console titles for a bit. But they have said explicitly -not only to the public but to their investors- that they will continue console games, MGS and Silent Hill in particular.
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Re: Kojima exits Konami

Post by Antimatzist »

What would we really want out of E3? with the controversy still raging and everyone hating Konami, a low profile at E3 is the best thing for them.
Actually, I expected more. I didn't even notice that they were there from the press coverage. They could have very well announced Suikoden III coming to PSN the week after E3, now that would have been a nice surprise already. I don't know about Japan, but Western gamers seem to hate Konami now a lot for what they did and how they're handling things. In such a situation, I'd try to be a lot more open to the public. Simply sitting out the problem won't help much.
TGS is always where Suikoden games have been announced. I am giving a roughly 1-in-3 chance that we will see a Suikoden announcement there.
I doubt it. Who should work on it? I can't think of any former Suikoden staff still working at Konami. They still haven't announced anything in regards to SUikoden despite the series' 20th anniversary this year. Of course, they don't have to do anything in this regard, and I doubt they'll announce something because of it, but that would be the perfect opportunity.

Of course we have to wait and see if something will happen, but I'm actually a bit tired of waiting, especially with these uncertainities around Konami. They can't handle anything right. Remember Chronos RIng, the smartphone RPG they announced in collaboration with Trie-Ace last year? They stopped support this May. The game didn't even have one full year!
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Re: Kojima exits Konami

Post by Pyriel »

What does "stopped support" mean in this context? Does it require an online connection, or are they just declining to ensure compatibility with devices it doesn't work well on?
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Re: Kojima exits Konami

Post by Antimatzist »

Pyriel wrote:What does "stopped support" mean in this context? Does it require an online connection, or are they just declining to ensure compatibility with devices it doesn't work well on?
As I can't speak Japanese, I don't know for certain, but it sounds like the game is not available at all anymore.
http://spg.game.konami.jp/chronosring/pc/
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Re: Kojima exits Konami

Post by Rooks »

Antimatzist wrote: Remember Chronos RIng, the smartphone RPG they announced in collaboration with Trie-Ace last year? They stopped support this May. The game didn't even have one full year!
That more or less had to happen because Tri-Ace was bought out by a Korean mobile gaming company.

Look, in a certain sense you are right: the "cold" equations look pretty awful right now, depending on how much of these rumors we buy into. However, in the last three years, have the cold equations even ever once been in our favor? I don't think they have, and yet look at what we have done.
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