Konami's Not Out of the Game Yet

Steve Anderson : End Game
Steve Anderson
The Video Store Guy
| The video game industry has gone from a mole hill to a mountain in no time flat, Chris DiMarco is your Sherpa as you endeavor to scale Mount “Everquest”

Konami's Not Out of the Game Yet

It wasn't so long ago that we were looking at Konami with something like alarm, wondering why a company with so much killer IP to its credit was bugging out to focus on pachinko devices and slot machines. While there were some decent ideas at the time as to why such a thing would happen--the resurgence of the arcade was one great possibility--it turns out that the initial reports weren't quite right, and Konami offered up a letter to explain some of its plans a bit better.

Konami--who sent its letter to Polygon--noted that the company did go through a major reorganization, but wasn't bailing out of the console market despite the death of "Silent Hills". Konami detailed a somewhat bloodless process, talking about "repositioning production studios" and "shifting our game development to a more centralized production system," and reassuring concerned fans that "Metal Gear Solid 5: Phantom Pain" director Hideo Kojima "...and his team are hard at work in the new production division system, bringing the game ever closer to completion." Konami's plans to bring in a mobile-focused new president certainly didn't help matters, but Konami's clarification suggests that the company's planning to work on add-on content to go with games, taking advantage of prime IP not just for big console and PC titles, but also for the kind of impact such can have on mobile devices.

Indeed, Konami's "mobile first" stance really isn't quite so "mobile first," but rather more like "mobile right alongside everything." It's more an expansion than a replacement, which is certainly a comfort, if something of a cold one.

Reaction to the letter seems to be somewhere between a spree of expletives and a cynicism so pure and thick it could be poured on pancakes. Taking Konami at its word, this is almost comforting. But it would be easy to believe that Konami was engaging in little more than damage control, trying to preserve brand image in the face of a whole load of angry Silent Hill fans--yours truly included on the "Silent Hill fan" list--who'd sooner see another game than hear Konami talk about how awesome the series is and how the company has to be super careful with the release of another game. You already had one in the works. Don't tell us about how you have to be careful; you already had one!

Anyway. With E3 rapidly approaching, we may well be treated to a look at the next round of Silent Hill, and hopefully there will be some good news out of that for fans of everybody's favorite nightmarish city. Until then, though, there will be plenty of folks champing at the bit, eager for a fresh bit of news to console them in their collective loss.


Featured Events