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[Zophar]

Microsoft has been serious recently about reforming their studios and the quality of their games. If they have the option for a custom engine route I could see them taking it just to maximize whatever they can get out of the Xbone. Microsoft just has much more to gain out of hiring the core staff at KojiPro compared to Sony who have the excellent ICE teams working everywhere.

He might do a limited publishing deal with either Microsoft or Sony similar to Respawn/EA or Bungie/Activision.

If the existing XB1 titles are any indication, FOX Engine *is* not the answer MS is looking for.

 

[SgtCobra]

lol at people claiming Konami is dead after this (or in big trouble). Do some research on what the company as a whole is responsible for and what other businesses they have.
Will this impact their gaming division? (Which is pretty small compared to everything else they have) most definitely. But this is far from a death sentence for Konami.

 

[Nabbis]

Sony should grab Kojima and his team.

 

[Damerman]

Its sad to see a team that set industry standards go away like this.

 

[Enjay]

This may just be the move that exposes Hideo Kojima much like the move to WCW exposed Vince Russo as a writer.

 

[Floody]

Look at all that staff that's getting paid full-time when they've already developed the bulk of the content for the game. Are they all doing testing?

I can imagine how Konami just sees money being burned.

I would guess at least some of them are/was working on Silent Hills too.

 

[Jarmel]

If the existing XB1 titles are any indication, FOX Engine *is* not the answer MS is looking for.

Well they obviously wouldn't be using the FOX Engine. The Engine is pretty much dead now.

I feel like the drugs people have to be hopped up on to seriously believe Microsoft is going to make investments in Japan and Japanese game devs should be so potent they'd prevent people from posting on the internet, but it seems like we've gotten quite a few of them today!

Microsoft BOUGHT a Sakaguchi owned studio and financed his games, and this was when Sakaguchi was a bigger name (in Japan) than Kojima. It failed. The Xbox One sold just a hair over 50k consoles in Japan. It's one of the worst console launches in ALL OF VIDEO GAMES. If you think Microsoft is going to just spend hundreds of millions of dollars to finance Kojima's games, build a studio for him, etc after all of that... You bought the wrong console and I'm terribly sorry.

This isn't about the Japanese market. His games sell extremely well in the West.

 

[NoctisVsStar]

So what exactly is going to happen to the relatively new engine him and his crew developed?

It stays with konami.

 

[Big_Boss9293]

I can understand if Kojima leaves and everything. Who wouldn't want Kojima on their team? I'm concerned about Konami...what are they thinking?!?

Also, what makes me much more upset is the fact they are removing "A Hideo Kojima Game" on everything now, even past games. That just crosses the line.

 

[BassForever]

lol at people claiming Konami is dead after this. Do some research on what the company as a whole is responsible for and what other businesses they have.
Will this impact their gaming division? (Which is pretty small compared to everything else they have) most definitely. But this is far from a death sentence for Konami.

On a gaming enthusaist board talking about Konami as a game developer? They might as well be dead. Sure they may live on though other ventures or mobile but the Konami that people know and love is basically dead

 

[Mocca-Bear]

Just realized that "A Hideo Kojima Game" is not limited to Konami. Hope!

 

[spookyfish]

Man. I still remember back to holidays 1998 playing Ocarina of Time and Metal Gear Solid. I still can't really believe this, and don't understand how a company rewards such an employee this way. But I am interested in seeing what he does in the future.

 

[Putyouinmyoven]

As much as I LOVE Metal Gear, I'm excited to see what else Kojima can do

 

[Kazuhira]

So this leaves the question will Konami do other stuff with the MGS IP

They will try to milk it as much as they can,lots of mobile games etc
But it won´t matter because metal gear ends with 5.

 

[swit]

lol at people claiming Konami is dead after this. Do some research on what the company as a whole is responsible for and what other businesses they have.
Will this impact their gaming division? (Which is pretty small compared to everything else they have) most definitely. But this is far from a death sentence for Konami.

Konami for gamers is publisher. We don't care about their other business. So Konami is indeed dead after this (from gamers perspective).

 

[Macrotus]

Kojima probably wanted to break free from MGS, Konami wouldn't have any of it. So, Kojima left.

Or, since they were/are restructuring,
maybe Konami tried to force Kojima to develop for mobile phones,
but since Kojima is a really ambitious developer, he wanted to continue to develop for Consoles/PCs and refused.

I mean, look at various Japanese devs, like yesterday Square Enix announcing a FF11 spinoff for mobile phones and also co-developing a app for mobile phones with Nexon which enables users to play FF11 on mobile phones or something.

Theres really only a few devs remaining in Japan who could compete with Western devs, and Kojima was one of them. Can't believe Konami chose this path...

 

[Betty]

So this is how MGS ends. Not with a bang, but with a whimper.

Spoiler

This is all to real right now ;_;

MGS ends with V which we hope will be a bang.

 

[AgentChris]

Konami is done.

 

[shungokusatsu]

FUCK. It's Infinity Ward all over again, ugh. Which mean the franchise will go to some b level team to run into the ground.

 

[cris7198]

Shiiiiiet ._.

So right now some guys from Sony and Microsoft are on the phone with Kojima?

 

[KarmaCow]

I guess this isn't really surprising, but hopefully Kojima can get his people to land safely after all this.

 

[Wiseblood]

 

[Phionoxx]

Well, hope it works out for Kojima and his staff at Kojipro. Sad to think of the implications for post launch support of TPP and MGO, and Silent Hills.

 

[3DimensionalAperture]

This isn't about the Japanese market. His games sell extremely well in the West.

Except it is about the Japanese market. His games do extremely well over there too and it's an important territory for them. Peacewalker flopped here but was a huge hit in Japan, for example. And yes, his games do very well in the West compared to say Platinum games, but it's not enough to justify financing entire studios from scratch.

Kojima's probably going to get investors and start up his own company. Every third party publisher in video games would be willing to offer him a great publishing deal similar in which he gets to control his ip.

 

[Patryn]

I know that, which is why I find this so strange. It is not as if the fate of the corporation were riding on MGSV or Silent Hills. He runs the only the part of the company that has any traction with gaming press, at least in the west.

I don't understand what benefit this brings Konami at all.

So you showed who is in charge but at what cost?

You lost your biggest figure. The one who sells only by putting his name on the box.

So you won the short fight now but what about your future?

That's some real bad management.

It makes sense if Konami is looking to leave the console gaming business. They seem happy to be a mobile/gambling/health company. Why do they need him if they stop making games?

 

[Flying Toaster]

At least Silent Hill got 2 movies...

Where my hollywood MGS movies at Konami?

 

[Steverulez]

Microsoft has been serious recently about reforming their studios and the quality of their games. If they have the option for a custom engine route I could see them taking it just to maximize whatever they can get out of the Xbone. Microsoft just has much more to gain out of hiring the core staff at KojiPro compared to Sony who have the excellent ICE teams working everywhere.

He might do a limited publishing deal with either Microsoft or Sony similar to Respawn/EA or Bungie/Activision.

If MS couldnt/wouldnt get long-term partners like Itagaki and CliffyB to sign their new games to them I doubt they will be successful with Kojima.

As I said, MS are happy with UE4 otherwise they wouldn't keep licensing it, it solves a lot of problems for them, keeping their relationship with Epic close despite not launching any games together anymore, getting regular support and an engine that does everything they could want it to without all the costs of building it.

Rare had an incredibly impressive engine last-gen that proved itself capable of a number of genres and types of games with nice looking graphics (Kameo, PDZ, VP, Banjo) and still MS didn't use a single engine solution, they won't start doing it now.

 

[vpance]

Sony should grab Kojima and his team.

 

[jerry1594]

Nintendo buy Kojima! Hopefully everyone else can land on their feet after

 

[LX_Theo]

At least Silent Hill got 2 movies...

Where my hollywood MGS movies at Konami?

You know you don't actually want that.

Nintendo buy Kojima! Hopefully everyone else can land on their feet after

That would be a horrible fit.

 

[Belgo Ray]

Looking forward to Phil Spencer wearing a Kojima Productions shirt at the MS E3 press conference...

 

[J2d]

Pls try to hire him as soon as you can sony..

 

[Condemned]

So all rumors at this point?

 

[BasilZero]

End of an era.

Was gonna post this...

 

[Sotha_Sil]

Screw Sony and Microsoft, I'd rather have a legendary developer making games everyone can enjoy.

 

[Yarbskoo]

Without Kojima, there isn't much I'm interested in from Konami.

Hopefully he finds a way to keep doing what he's doing.

 

[Flying Toaster]

You know you don't actually want that.



That would be a horrible fit.

You are right. I was grasping at straws.

 

[Always-honest]

Damn.. What the hell.
Will this have any consequences for MGSV?

 

[Hank Scorpio]

Damn, 5 years making MGS5. A new engine. Feels weird even buying this MGS5 now with how Konami seem to have acted here.

 

[AgentChris]

Sony should grab Kojima and his team.

I expect CEO Kaz will be making a direct call to Kojima.

 

[Bl@de]

Not funny

 

[Jarmel]

Except it is about the Japanese market. His games do extremely well over there too and it's an important territory for them. Peacewalker flopped here but was a huge hit in Japan, for example. And yes, his games do very well in the West compared to say Platinum games, but it's not enough to justify financing entire studios from scratch.

Kojima's probably going to get investors and start up his own company. Every third party publisher in video games would be willing to offer him a great publishing deal similar in which he gets to control his ip.

Well for Microsoft, the primary interest wouldn't be the Japanese market but what he could provide internationally. KojiPro has multiple aspects that would make it attractive to them as a company. They also certainly can bankroll higher than Sony right now.

Although yes, chances are high that he'll just do a deal similar to Respawn with some publisher.

 

[DirtyManos]

Crazy stuff, honestly it seems like Konami's game side is really just kojima and his crew.

So long Metal Gear.

So long Silent Hills.

All that work on the Fox Engine.



Now we begin to speculate (dream) where Kojima ends up. Seeing how much he loves their games, and the mutual respect they've showed to each other, how cool would it be for Naughty Dog to pick him up as a game/creative director? His ambition with their talent. That's my drug fueled fantasy anyway.

 

[SgtCobra]

On a gaming enthusaist board talking about Konami as a game developer? They might as well be dead. Sure they may live on though other ventures or mobile but the Konami that people know and love is basically dead

Konami for gamers is publisher. We don't care about their other business. So Konami is indeed dead after this (from gamers perspective).

Sure, except I'm not talking about a gamers perspective but a business related one and that's what my initial post implied.
Konami as a gaming pub/dev has been "dead" to me for a long time, the only thing they could do to stay relevant (to me) is to release a new Metal Gear game.

 

[Shauni]

I'm completely sure that Kojima will be OK. Microsoft, Sony, or even Amazon would want to throw money at him and his next studio.

Amazon? The hell?

 

[crazyrabbits]

RIP

Absolutely shameful of Konami.

 

[Nonentity]

Huh. It's probably a good thing I didn't up accepting that job at KojiPro in LA, then.

 

[hal9001]

Just got home to find this news. I can't say I'm in total disbelief but still it is a lot to take in. This coupled with the fact that Nintendo are going mobile has made the last few days very surreal.

 

[Fury451]

Lol.

A town of eternal disappointment. Welcome.

 

[Macrotus]

Sony should grab Kojima and his team.

I can easily imagine MS giving him a call though,
since they're really desperate in beating PS4 in sales.
Something like the Scalebound deal with MS and Kamiya.