Well it would be stupid of them to outright reveal their source's identity wouldn't it?
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
GameSpot: Kojima to leave Konami after MGSV, power struggle, communications embargo
- Thread starter shinobi602
- Start date
- Status
I never bought Boktai because there was just too much stuff releasing at the time that I never got around to buying it. PS2 was on fire around that time.
hah, you have no idea what you're talking about.
Itchy//Tasty
Member
Surely they're gonna finish Silent Hills though? It must be a fair way into development.
Kojima can only benefit from leaving Konami. He's been tied to a floundering whale for a decade, at least.
If Konami has any sense left they'll take this as a soul-searching moment, and turn the MGS money hog into an opportunity to reinvigorate their legacy IPs. There's no reason why we can't have Gradius, Contra, or countless other arcade franchises come back into the limelight when indies are thriving on digital distribution and handhelds/mobile are as strong as they are.
If Konami has any sense left they'll take this as a soul-searching moment, and turn the MGS money hog into an opportunity to reinvigorate their legacy IPs. There's no reason why we can't have Gradius, Contra, or countless other arcade franchises come back into the limelight when indies are thriving on digital distribution and handhelds/mobile are as strong as they are.
Valkyri von Thanatos
Member
Nothing I can say that hasn't been said before but...
1. I'm glad he is now free from Konami, even though this probably hurts greatly for Kojima, there is no way he won't be able to make new games if he wants to.
2. I am sad to see all the work Kojima Productions has put into the FOX engine likely go to waste after MGSV, and this move by Konami will likely equate to a liqidation of most staff, leaving only a skeleton behind. This is the worst thing about all of this, that the majority of the staff are likely to be left out in the cold after this. They are letting the lifeblood of the studio get drained from KojiPro's corpse, hopefully most of the staff who will be dropped will be picked up by Kojima in his possible future endeavor's.
3. Silent Hills is dead I guess. That really sucks, was looking forward to it since it was finally a new project besides Metal Gear for Kojima. Konami will probably try to salvage development, but the damage is done, it will never live up to its original promise.
4. Finally, I just have to wonder... What the hell could have caused such a massive breakdown of relations? Was Konami betting literally everything on making MGS games indefinitely, and were pissed when Kojima outright refused to agree to making any more after V? Why censor his name and influence from MGSV now? Why cut all ties? Surely they could have handled this better, there must have been some way they could have agreed to take the reins on KojiPro without such a massive liquidation. I just wonder what made them decide that burning all of their bridges with Kojima was the best course of action when they could have still left him work on Silent Hills.
5. Konami is dead. It's funny, now that Square-Enix looks more self-aware of their issues than ever, and seemingly are working hard to attempt to right them, Konami is cannibalizing itself. Other companies like Namco, Falcom, and Atlus/SEGA, seem to be keeping their cool, but Konami looks about ready to drop, hard. Even Capcom seems to be making changes, with the success of Resident Evil HD and Revelations 2, I'd say Capcom is turning their brand around from the brink, and RE7 may actually be an excellent new entry in the series without them having to break the bank to make it. That brings me to my last thought on this whole situation.
6. This really is about Kojima spending too much money making MGSV, isn't it? He's just about had complete creative freedom on this game, even saying that in order to reach the game's true vision, he had to drastically expand KojiPro and create a "western style" graphics engine (FOX) and work environment. Konami probably wanted this game out last year, and Kojima had to appease the shareholders with a stop gap Metal Gear (Ground Zeroes) in order to earn some of this game's budget back. Kojima is almost certainly uncaring about profits with this last game and just wants to make it the best and last Metal Gear ever made, but Konami has probably calculated that any more expansive feature additions in the last 4-5 months of development before the crunch to making the game "gold" would cause the actual profit they pull in for this game to not be worth the time and money it has cost them so far. Therefore, Konami has seemingly made the decision to isolate Kojima and force him to finish the game quickly in order to start collecting revenue to pay for this game's development cost. I'm not saying that the game won't be profitable, I'm saying that Konami is worried it won't be profitable enough, and are thus making a terribly rash decision in order to get this game done cheaply.
I think Miyamoto said it best with:
Konami, in an attempt to stave off literal bankruptcy, has now cut off their last creative asset, and are creatively bankrupt after MGSV. Whether they last only a few more years before literal bankruptcy or several, they are on a road that leads only to destruction. I only hope that when they do die, they sell off their IPs like THQ did, and Silent Hill, Castlevania and Metal Gear can all find proper homes somewhere else.
1. I'm glad he is now free from Konami, even though this probably hurts greatly for Kojima, there is no way he won't be able to make new games if he wants to.
2. I am sad to see all the work Kojima Productions has put into the FOX engine likely go to waste after MGSV, and this move by Konami will likely equate to a liqidation of most staff, leaving only a skeleton behind. This is the worst thing about all of this, that the majority of the staff are likely to be left out in the cold after this. They are letting the lifeblood of the studio get drained from KojiPro's corpse, hopefully most of the staff who will be dropped will be picked up by Kojima in his possible future endeavor's.
3. Silent Hills is dead I guess. That really sucks, was looking forward to it since it was finally a new project besides Metal Gear for Kojima. Konami will probably try to salvage development, but the damage is done, it will never live up to its original promise.
4. Finally, I just have to wonder... What the hell could have caused such a massive breakdown of relations? Was Konami betting literally everything on making MGS games indefinitely, and were pissed when Kojima outright refused to agree to making any more after V? Why censor his name and influence from MGSV now? Why cut all ties? Surely they could have handled this better, there must have been some way they could have agreed to take the reins on KojiPro without such a massive liquidation. I just wonder what made them decide that burning all of their bridges with Kojima was the best course of action when they could have still left him work on Silent Hills.
5. Konami is dead. It's funny, now that Square-Enix looks more self-aware of their issues than ever, and seemingly are working hard to attempt to right them, Konami is cannibalizing itself. Other companies like Namco, Falcom, and Atlus/SEGA, seem to be keeping their cool, but Konami looks about ready to drop, hard. Even Capcom seems to be making changes, with the success of Resident Evil HD and Revelations 2, I'd say Capcom is turning their brand around from the brink, and RE7 may actually be an excellent new entry in the series without them having to break the bank to make it. That brings me to my last thought on this whole situation.
6. This really is about Kojima spending too much money making MGSV, isn't it? He's just about had complete creative freedom on this game, even saying that in order to reach the game's true vision, he had to drastically expand KojiPro and create a "western style" graphics engine (FOX) and work environment. Konami probably wanted this game out last year, and Kojima had to appease the shareholders with a stop gap Metal Gear (Ground Zeroes) in order to earn some of this game's budget back. Kojima is almost certainly uncaring about profits with this last game and just wants to make it the best and last Metal Gear ever made, but Konami has probably calculated that any more expansive feature additions in the last 4-5 months of development before the crunch to making the game "gold" would cause the actual profit they pull in for this game to not be worth the time and money it has cost them so far. Therefore, Konami has seemingly made the decision to isolate Kojima and force him to finish the game quickly in order to start collecting revenue to pay for this game's development cost. I'm not saying that the game won't be profitable, I'm saying that Konami is worried it won't be profitable enough, and are thus making a terribly rash decision in order to get this game done cheaply.
I think Miyamoto said it best with:
Konami, in an attempt to stave off literal bankruptcy, has now cut off their last creative asset, and are creatively bankrupt after MGSV. Whether they last only a few more years before literal bankruptcy or several, they are on a road that leads only to destruction. I only hope that when they do die, they sell off their IPs like THQ did, and Silent Hill, Castlevania and Metal Gear can all find proper homes somewhere else.
entremet
Member
We will see. I'm skeptical.
MGS type games aren't cheap affairs.
I see him doing smaller projects honestly. KS, PC/Mobile.
KiefbladeMaster
Member
I didn't even think about that, probably doesn't bode well for it.
You seem to think Kojima gets to take Fox Engine with him?
artsi
Member
Nah, he should have his hands full with Gravity Rush 2.
He can have the next Siren after that, lol.
Stairouais
Member
Palette Swap
Member
I'm very ambivalent about TPP right now.
It's the game I'm the most looking forward to this year (a year full of games I've been waiting for), it's a Kojima game but at the same time, it will feel weird to reward Konami.
It's the game I'm the most looking forward to this year (a year full of games I've been waiting for), it's a Kojima game but at the same time, it will feel weird to reward Konami.
Fine Ham Abounds
Member
We will be ashamed
Ninja Scooter
Member
Kojima doesn't really need anyone to guide him in that regard, and it's probably exactly what he wants the least at this point. All he needs in a publisher is someone who will open up their wallet and use their distribution. Plenty of pubs can do that as well as Nintendo and also have the added benefit of being multiplatform and not locking his games to platforms that may sell badly or not have the userbase to support his games.
Would be crazy if Sony didn't scoop him up.
Kojima has done fantastic things with low-budget and non-AAA genres. Metal Gear is far from his only trick.
entremet
Member
I was talking to the poster who was expecting more big budget projects. I honestly think he's tired of them just by gauging his desires in interviews.
I would like to see some smaller games from him as he transitions.
RandomExpletive
Member
We're not tools of Konami, or anyone else!
John Kowalski
Banned
good luck Kojima senpai
Gaffercake
Member
Damn
If it's true I wonder if they parted on good terms
If it's true I wonder if they parted on good terms
Flying Toaster
Member
Danny Dudekisser
I paid good money for this Dynex!
Crazy fucking news... Konami might as well just disappear now.
Yoshi
Headmaster of Console Warrior Jugendstrafanstalt
While I agree this move seems super-shady, Konami was big before MGS, the ISS series for instance was quite huge...
MDSLKTR
Member
Oh grow up
freshVeggie
Member
What a needless, sad and pathetic way to end the person's job who basically made you what you are.
It's not especially Kojima but no one, whether games industry or elsewhere deserves to be "wiped out" retroactively like this.
Such a shame. I am sure Kojima will land on his feet but probably not everyone who will go will.
And no matter what Konami does, Metal Gear Solid will never be the same without Kojima.
What a shame. A shame that Konami does this.
It's not especially Kojima but no one, whether games industry or elsewhere deserves to be "wiped out" retroactively like this.
Such a shame. I am sure Kojima will land on his feet but probably not everyone who will go will.
And no matter what Konami does, Metal Gear Solid will never be the same without Kojima.
What a shame. A shame that Konami does this.
Fancy Clown
Member
They're taking his name off the damn game. They did not part on good terms lol.
blue_phazon
Member
Is the Metal Gear franchise owned by Kojima or Konami?
If it's Kojima...Konami is so screwed
If it's Kojima...Konami is so screwed
Steverulez
Member
MS are quite happy using UE4 I would expect given that they are heavily relying on it for both internal and partner studios development. I can't see him ever rocking up as MS though, he will either start a new studio and get a publisher or go to Sony imo, I'm sure they would move heaven and earth to have him.
Freezasaurus
Member
They still have Castlevania, don't they?
But losing Kojima is a massive blow to the company.
ratcliffja
Member
Kojima's probably worked himself to exhaustion, so snatching him up now when he'd have to start fresh with a new IP isn't exactly a sure-fire win for a publisher. I wouldn't be surprised if he just did some smaller narrative driven games for a while before trying to tackle this stuff again.
Looking forward to the revision of this chart in their annual reports in the next few years.
They are done with gaming man. They clearly don't give a damn
- Status