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GameSpot: Kojima to leave Konami after MGSV, power struggle, communications embargo

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S

SketchTheArtist

Member
It happens sadly.

It happened with Infinity Ward and we got RESPAWN. It happened with Capcom and we got GRASSHOPPER MANIFACTURE, PLANITUM GAMES and TANGO. It happened with Patrice Desilets and we're getting PANACHE GAMES. It's gonna happen with Kojima. He's a beacon in this industry, he'll be alright.

You get big enough to start wielding some power and if the management and you're top talent isn't seeing eye to eye, a crossroad appears. It's evolution I guess.
 
8

8byte

Banned
Mifec said:
Kojima's games being exclusive to a single platform is really bad.
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...Didnt they spend almost the entirety of their existence as an exclusive developer?

There are a few titles here and there, but I don't think that would be a death sentence for them.
 
L

LilWayneSuckz

Member
How will Konami survive without Kojima or KojiPro? I'm seriously wondering...they can only survive so long on crappy remasters of their best games and crappily designed western developed Silent Hill games
 
M

Mifec

Member
Ozium said:
and yet all of his games are exclusives except for MGS2 Subsistence and Ground Zeroes....
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I was talking about new games he is making. They should be available to the widest audience possible rofl.
8byte said:
...Didnt they spend almost the entirety of their existence as an exclusive developer?

There are a few titles here and there, but I don't think that would be a death sentence for them.
Click to expand...

was talking from a consumer standpoint.
 
H

hirokazu

Member
FF Seraphim said:
Yes! Kojima needs to make an appearance at Sony's E3 conference! Hell I will be happy if he makes an appearance at Nintendo's after E3 direct show thing....
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Is he allowed to do that until he wraps up his work with Konami?

Also, I want to acknowledge the rest of the KojiPro team who are getting shafted with him, but it's weird because it's A HIDEO KOJIMA GAME from KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS.
 
F

ForsakenLotus

Member
Valkyri von Thanatos said:
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My comrades.

Here's to you Nicola and Bart, rest forever here in our hearts
the last and final moment is yours, that agony is your triumph.

I've had my MGSV music playlist on repeat since this began. I can't peel myself from my seat, I won't stop until we get more MGS fans to join us with their avatars!

fake edit:



Yeah, I guess this means the save data import to bring Kojima into TPP will probably not pan out now...



GAF Diamond :)
:'(
.
Click to expand...

I'm here to be a Diamond Dog, sir!
 
2

2thepoint

Junior Member
You know what, it would be fucking hilarious if Kojima sets up his own Kojima Productions and starts work on a spiritual successor to MGS, in some sort of partnership with Sony, Microsoft, or one of the big publishers.

Then, he can wave to Konami as the sinking ship goes under - they actually deserve it for the absolutely ridiculous moves they have made today.
 
L

Luigiv

Member
Well I guess Konami will finally fulfill their objective of fading into complete irrelevance come this December. It's been a long time coming.
 
G

GillianSeed79

Member
Comfort Jones said:
Wow it sure is fun to just make things up as you go to support this goofy vague argument of yours. As if Kojima has ever done anything to fuck over Konami money wise, the man knows what he's doing. If he got picked up by Sony he'd do just as fine if not better.
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Not that he's fucked Konami money-wise, but a 5-year dev cycle, an entire studio in Japan, a separate staffed studio in Los Angeles and the development of an entirely new game engine isn't something that comes cheap, especially for a company like Konami.

It's not as simple as Sony just "hiring" Kojima. These games don't make themselves. We're talking about a multi-year investment for millions of dollars and this news just broke. If he does form a new studio, it's probably going to take some time for it to get up and running and to secure funding, especially in Japan.
 
B

Brhoom

Banned
P.T was the game that made me believe horror can be done again, no button promotes, no clues and no HUD all made the game immersive and really sucked you in like the old silent hill.

Guess my ps4 was bought for nothing (bought it for P.T and Silent Hills)

:,(
 
V

Valkyri von Thanatos

Member
GreyOcelot said:
This is fucking DISGUSTING. Could you imagine if they removed Martin Scorsese's name from Goodfellas or Tarantino's name from Pulp Fiction? Just disrespectful as fuck
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Yes, it is. It's almost unbelievable, but this is the world we live in. Still...
Storm360 said:
I say we as fans edit any promo material Konami puts out to add A HIDEO KOJIMA GAME on it, Trailers etc, I'm already debating scanning my box arts day one to add it in
Click to expand...

I'm all for that. I'm so glad The Snake Soup has caught on. They are a bunch of old grumps, but they are fans, just like us. It's over used but...

nothing_stops_this_train-9763.gif


edit:

ForsakenLotus said:
I'm here to be a Diamond Dog, sir!
Click to expand...

It makes me proud to serve alongside you.

"We pull in money, recruits, just to combat Cipher. Rubbing our noses in bloody battlefield dirt. All for revenge."

Shit, if this game gets clans (that is, if MGO is properly developed), we need to have this be GAF's clan name.
 
L

LiquidSolid

Member
2thepoint said:
Well, at least with Kojima, a working title will result - unlike Ueda.

Yamauchi is still working on Gran Turismo PS4 - please be excited when it is announced in the next decade.

If it proved relatively cost effective, I'd recommend Sony at least trying to grab him before someone else does.
Click to expand...

Honestly, who else would even be interested? Most major publishers aren't expanding at all, if anything most of the Japanese ones seem to be contracting (Sega, Capcom and Konami especially) and the only western publisher who've looked to expand to Japan in the last five years has been Bethesda.

I could maybe see Nintendo being interested, since they have expanded into other genres over the last few years (JRPGs like Xenogears, Action games like Bayonetta 2, etc.) but who knows if he'd fit there.

Microsoft are irrelevant in Japan, so I'm not sure they'd be a good option and then if he makes a successful game, he'd be stuck right back into the "make sequels for the rest of your life" trap.

hirokazu said:
It is possibly that he takes Del Toro and Norman Reedus with him and they start from scratch though. If it is under development, I don't think those two would stick around with Kojima gone.

The biggest obstacle to the KojiPro team that leaves is that they spent so many years on Fox Engine and now they'll have to either make a new engine or license one when they leave Konami.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's possible. It probably depends on how much input they have and what their contracts are. Could be that they've been working with the actual Silent Hills team and Kojima's removal doesn't really impact them that much. Who knows but I guess we'll find out soon enough.

And yeah, I completely agree about Fox Engine. They spent almost an entire generation building that thing and it was all for just one game. Once Kojima founds his new studio, everything starts from scratch once again. Huge disappointment given how promising it was.
 
B

Boke1879

Member
GillianSeed79 said:
Not that he's fucked Konami money-wise, but a 5-year dev cycle, an entire studio in Japan, a separate staffed studio in Los Angeles and the development of an entirely new game engine isn't something that comes cheap, especially for a company like Konami.

It's not as simple as Sony just "hiring" Kojima. These games don't make themselves. We're talking about a multi-year investment for millions of dollars and this news just broke. If he does form a new studio, it's probably going to take some time for it to get up and running and to secure funding, especially in Japan.
Click to expand...

As stated they could easily do something similar like Bloodborne. You don't give him a blank check but you do allow him to create.
 
C

Comfort Jones

Banned
GillianSeed79 said:
Not that he's fucked Konami money-wise, but a 5-year dev cycle, an entire studio in Japan, a separate staffed studio in Los Angeles and the development of an entirely new game engine isn't something that comes cheap, especially for a company like Konami.

It's not as simple as Sony just "hiring" Kojima. These games don't make themselves. We're talking about a multi-year investment for millions of dollars and this news just broke. If he does form a new studio, it's probably going to take some time for it to get up and running and to secure funding, especially in Japan.
Click to expand...

This really has nothing to do with what was I addressing though, where he basically implied it would be a dumb move for Sony to pick him up, actually comparing him to Ueda who has never even been kinda close to Kojima's level money/influence wise.

I'm not saying they need to get a gigantic blockbuster out of him immediately but I think the partnership would be very beneficial for both of them.
 
J

Jarmel

Banned
GillianSeed79 said:
Not that he's fucked Konami money-wise, but a 5-year dev cycle, an entire studio in Japan, a separate staffed studio in Los Angeles and the development of an entirely new game engine isn't something that comes cheap, especially for a company like Konami.

It's not as simple as Sony just "hiring" Kojima. These games don't make themselves. We're talking about a multi-year investment for millions of dollars and this news just broke. If he does form a new studio, it's probably going to take some time for it to get up and running and to secure funding, especially in Japan.
Click to expand...

Yep, it would involve buying computers, office space, and dealing with multiple high level contracts. It's not going to be cheap.
 
B

border

Member
Suzushiiro said:
Kojima has a consistent enough track record to be worth it, I'd say. Has any game directed by Kojima in the past twenty years been a commercial flop?
Click to expand...

Zone of the Enders 2 was a pretty sizable flop, and its failure is also good evidence that ZoE1's sales were propped up almost entirely by the inclusion of the MGS2 demo disc.

Without the Metal Gear IP, I'm not sure he can continue to generate AAA success -- but most of these famed developers who leave their longtime employers rarely do that anyway.
 
T

Tengrave

Member
The part I dont get is did they really think we would not notice his name clearly removed? I wonder how long till they at least try to get out in front of this a little more than "He will still be working on Metal Gear."
 
P

Parakeetman

No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
More proof that Konami are a bunch of fucking idiots.

I mean how stupid do you have to be to drive out literally the last remaining force behind propping up the company.

Jesus H Christ.
 
R

ryan13ts

Member
It's absolutely amazing that it seems that Konami has no idea what it's about to lose if Kojima really is leaving. He IS what's basically keeping that company alive at this point, Konami will find that out soon enough if all this is true.

As a company, they've been doing piss poor in recent years on almost everything non-Kojima related (Pitiful new IP's and poor HD ports like the Abysmal Silent Hill HD collection), so without their golden star to hold them up, I think it's only going to go downhill for them.... fast.

I really hope it's not true though, I was really looking forward to seeing what Kojima would have done to bring Silent Hill back to it's former glory. If he's out, its either going to turn out like shit or be cancelled altogether =(
 
U

ugh_the_boot

Banned
Konami are shit but Kojima is awesome. Hopefully this opens up an even brighter future for Kojima and his team. Probably a good thing in the end but still definately a bomshell.
 
2

2thepoint

Junior Member
LiquidSolid said:
Honestly, who else would even be interested? Most major publishers aren't expanding at all, if anything most of the Japanese ones seem to be contracting (Sega, Capcom and Konami especially) and the only western publisher who've looked to expand to Japan in the last five years has been Bethesda.

I could maybe see Nintendo being interested, since they have expanded into other genres over the last few years (JRPGs like Xenogears, Action games like Bayonetta 2, etc.) but who knows if he'd fit there.

Microsoft are irrelevant in Japan, so I'm not sure they'd be a good option and then if he makes a successful game, he'd be stuck right back into the "make sequels for the rest of your life" trap.



Yeah, it's possible. It probably depends on how much input they have and what their contracts are. Could be that they've been working with the actual Silent Hills team and Kojima's removal doesn't really impact them that much. Who knows but I guess we'll find out soon enough.

And yeah, I completely agree about Fox Engine. They spent almost an entire generation building that thing and it was all for just one game. Once Kojima founds his new studio, everything starts from scratch once again. Huge disappointment given how promising it was.
Click to expand...

Well, I don't know about one of the big publishers giving him a studio, but I could see a partnership deal being struck if whatever he pitches shows promise - his reputation alone would probably get a title greenlit.

As for Silent Hills, couldn't he just continue the game, rework it a bit, and release like PT - PT generated enough excitement on it's own before it was revealed as Silent Hills - but it's built on Fox Engine, so it would be probably delayed significantly to be put on Unreal Engine 4 or something alternative.

I can't see him ever working with Konami again after the disgusting and disrespectful way he has been treated, with his name being removed from covers, materials etc.

Just shameful.
 
L

LiquidSolid

Member
border said:
Zone of the Enders 2 was a pretty sizable flop, and its failure is also good evidence that ZoE1's sales were propped up almost entirely by the inclusion of the MGS2 demo disc.

Without the Metal Gear IP, I'm not sure he can continue to generate AAA success -- but most of these famed developers who leave their longtime employers rarely do that anyway.
Click to expand...

lol. He said games that Kojima directed. Try again.

I can't believe after all these years people still think Kojima direct ZOE1 or 2. That's probably the downside to using "A Hideo Kojima game" on everything that came out of his studio.
 
Alebrije

Alebrije

Member
Parakeetman said:
More proof that Konami are a bunch of fucking idiots.

I mean how stupid do you have to be to drive out literally the last remaining force behind propping up the company.

Jesus H Christ.
Click to expand...

Konami gets more money from mobile gsmes than MGS , also they have health biusinnes , theose Pochinko machines an Yugiho cards game.

Konami is not just a videogame company and shareholders will move it where revenue is .
 
I

IzzyF3

Member
I'm sad to see this happen if it really is happening. It kind of feels like it was a matter of time though with people like Igarashi, Inafune, Yamaoka, and Sakaguchi all leaving their iconic franchises, it didn't feel like Kojima would stay at Konami forever.

Still though, I feel like it is by far the worse move Konami can make: to drop the momentum of MGSV to a halt.

I hope it is another joke from Koji Pro.
 
P

pupcoffee

Member
Kojima wants to make large, ambitious games first and foremost. That's why he has stayed with Metal Gear - so he can have access to funds. So he can foster the creation of his own new engine, for instance. Konami wouldn't have let him make the Fox Engine if it wasn't for MGSV.

Going indie might not be all that it's cracked up to be for the man himself. This is a guy who wants to stand up to things like GTAV.
 
Aswitch

Aswitch

Member
Well all good things come to an end. It's only so much that can be reiterated on this franchise. Here's to even better projects from kojima.
 
D

Dr. Black Jack

Member
Poimandres said:
I know this sucks for Konami, Silent Hills, and potentially MGSV... but I'm not as distraught over this news as a lot of people seem to be.

I feel like Kojima has been eager to break free from the MGS series for a while now. Hell, he's even said as much rather directly. For future Kojima games, this might actually be a good thing. Ultimately it remains to be seen, but I'd rather see Kojima really doing what he wants to do as opposed to being stuck making MGS games forever.
Click to expand...

Exactly. While the drama within the company sounds terrible when it's over we might finally get something non-MGS from him.

What was the last one? Policenauts? It's time to let go.
 
J

Jarmel

Banned
Ninja Scooter said:
konami could just contract Platinum to do it if they really want. Kojima's not really needed for that to happen.
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Konami would have to fund it though and if they're trying to get out of the console AAA space, they're not going to dump money into a Platinum title that has limited returns.
 
V

Valkerionseven

Member
Sounds like Konami is going full blown medical company then cause what else gaming wise do they have? Silent Hills, yeah thats probably dead/dying at this point.
 
N

Ninja Scooter

Member
Jarmel said:
Konami would have to fund it though and if they're trying to get out of the console AAA space, they're not going to dump money into a Platinum title that has limited returns.
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Well yeah I'm not saying it's going to happen just that Kojima leaving doesn't mean it can't happen.
 
I

iMerc

Member
2thepoint said:
Then, he can wave to Konami as the sinking ship goes under - they actually deserve it for the absolutely ridiculous moves they have made today.
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oh please.
konami have been making ridiculously sour moves for many years now.
while i don't want to take anything away from this kojima debacle as it's absolutely terrible, i think it's disappointingly telling that the 'enthusiast gaming community' has no coherent reaction to what they've done to pretty much all their big franchises, their key staff, and the studios that they've purchased and wasted along the way (like hudson) till today.
but the mere mention of kojima and oh no; gaming-community-explode-get.

very talented staff & quality i.p's, have constantly been screwed by konami throughout the years, and they get little to no mention or attention. you guys are the enthusiast community. you're suppose to know about this shit (because if you don't, then who the hell will?)
 
S

Snake-87

Neo Member
1- kojima station site still there.

2- april fool.

3- Geoff Keighley (kojima's friend) who did the interveiw with (mobi dick) two years ago just tweeted about kojima. Helping him again with the pranks?

4- we all talking about it now = true marking.

5- 1/april/2015 is the 10th Anniversary for kojima productions.



CAgHpNQUgAECX50.jpg
 
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