Konami is Now Focusing on Mobile Games at Their Main Platform

[bikingjahuty]

I hope for a complete overhaul of the entire industry. Would love to see these once great companies die off and companies that are ran by passionate individuals and not a bunch of MBAs, rise to prominence as the power houses of the industry. I hate what the industry has become and want nothing more than to see it be as great as it used to.

[yancakes]

As business decisions go, this one feels shocking but really does make sense... for them. Not for us.

First off I'm fairly certain that mobile gaming is WAY bigger and more developed in Asian countries, especially Japan, where they have way more options for mobiles. I live in a university town that sees a LOT of Japanese students who come here for school. On the bus I've seen countless times, not only cell phones that you just can't get in North America, but looking over their shoulders I've said to myself on a number of occasions... "wow, that looks like a real game". Racing games, in depth JRPGs, strategy games, even FPS's and so on.

In NA, "gamers" just don't play mobile games. Part of this is because the NA market is dominated with the likes of Farmville, Candy Crush and the like. Mobile games here aren't for gamers, they're for people who have phones and want to kill time on a bus. And yet they STILL make an absolute TONNE of money.

So I get it. Squenix is doing the same thing, too. They're probably gonna make a lot of money, and there's always the off chance that actual quality mobile games will become more of a thing. But for NA gamers who are hooked to our consoles and the like, it really sucks.

[spac316]

It's like everything I once knew has all crumbled apart now...

Modern day Konami is nothing more than a shell of it's former self. I will still enjoy their classics but I just hate how they, and certain other companies have become these days. I really hate the modern day games market and the pay to play shit. If they see that Igarashi's Castlevania successor, Bloodstained, as any indication that fans WANT a new game in the original style, Konami wouldn't be in this mess. That game got funded in less than 4 HOURS with less than 30 days left to go! So yeah, obviously they are corrupted and don't give a fuck about their legacy. They are burying themselves and sadly bringing Hudson Soft's IPs down with them!

I know business is business but it's just so disheartening.

[maximo310]

In my opinion,
This whole move to mobile has been quite a kick in the teeth, especially since they haven't produced many console games in the last few years. I think that the move is due to them seeing mobile as a more profitable market( which it is in Japan) and there is most defenitely restructuring within their divisions, especially since it seems that they have a ton of other business ventures within Japan, and they do need cost-cutting measure, which is also probably the reason why their arcade game division has been pretty dead for the last 5-6 years as well.

I'm hoping that the move to mobile will hopefully give us some quality mobile titles. I would like to see a gradius title that was fun, had good level design and enemies, and had precise controls( kind of like what CAVE did for their iOS titles), and make sure that it gets properly supported so that the game doesn't break and unplayable after system updates, which seems to be an increasingly bothersome issue in recent years like many games ( looking at CAVE mobile ports). I think the biggest problem for Konami mobile games will be in the NA market, due to the rivals who have f2p mechanics and more time-wasters instead of real games. I also hope that the move will give them more leverage to create more unique titles for mobile, which is weak for most mobile games in the NA market as well.

However, I think that it's not the best decision for them to put all of their eggs into mobile, since although the overhead is quite a bit lower compared to the costs of console development, it's become pretty hard to make a lot of sales in the NA/EU markets unless its incorperating freemium aspects or that you invest a lot of money into the game. So I feel like Konami is catering this move towards the JP market, where it will be easier to adopt a strategy, although I don't think it will really work in other markets. It still isn't good for console gamers, and it doesn't help that many of their ips( like a few other companies) are sitting dormant and aren't getting used by the company or allowing another company to use it.
In conclusion, its just business, but unfortunately it's just hurting the consumer, and it defenitely isn't going to help the game industry in its current state. We're going to need an overhaul at some point or else we'll probably see another crash.

[burningdoom]

Woo hoo! Konami is back-pedaling!

http://www.screwattack.com/news/konami-says-it-will-not-abandon-consoles

[foxhack]

... they're not.

They're just saying they're "sorry."

[burningdoom]

... they're not.

They're just saying they're "sorry."

Konami says it will not abandon consoles

“Our aim is to continue to build up a comprehensive portfolio of console, arcade, and card game titles for each IP while also making the best possible use of the mobile devices that accompany our customers in their daily life, thus expanding the limits of entertainment and appealing to more and more customers,”

Hayakawa said the mobile first approach will be used largely in Japan where mobile consumers make up 50 percent of the market.

However, whereas platforms to date were very limited, we now need to split our approaches between console, arcade, card, and mobile games to best suit the needs of the customer.”

Sounds to me like their doing both mobile and consoles from those quotes, and the large article title. And it sounds like their gonna try this experiment in Japan, first, with mobile games.

[spac316]

Still with no Kojima or Igarashi, their respective titles won't be as good.

[foxhack]

There's a huge difference between "says" and actually doing it. I don't trust them to follow through on this.

What other upcoming games do they even have asides from MGS5?

[kamikazekeeg]

Kinda at this point, like Spac said, without their big hitters, its not gonna matter too much.  I think the only thing I'd be interested in is a Metal Gear Rising 2: Revengeance Harder.

[burningdoom]

Kinda at this point, like Spac said, without their big hitters, its not gonna matter too much.  I think the only thing I'd be interested in is a Metal Gear Rising 2: Revengeance Harder.

It sucks they left, I know. But 1 guy does not equal an entire company. Marvel didn't die when Stan Lee stopped writing or Jack Kirby died. MGM didn't go under when Clark Gable died. And RCA didn't go out of business when Elvis died.

There is more talent out there to discover. And Konami has the money and resources to find them.

[kamikazekeeg]

Kinda at this point, like Spac said, without their big hitters, its not gonna matter too much.  I think the only thing I'd be interested in is a Metal Gear Rising 2: Revengeance Harder.

It sucks they left, I know. But 1 guy does not equal an entire company. Marvel didn't die when Stan Lee stopped writing or Jack Kirby died. MGM didn't go under when Clark Gable died. And RCA didn't go out of business when Elvis died.

There is more talent out there to discover. And Konami has the money and resources to find them.

If they can do that, I'm all for it, it's just that they've kinda been struggling to keep the fans happy for awhile with their big games.  Metal Gear Solid has worked out cause Kojima has stuck around, though Rising is a fun offshoot.  Fans have been disappointed in their Silent Hills and Castlevania games for awhile, especially since Lord of Shadows just turned into a gothic horror God of War lol  They feel much like Capcom in that they've been kinda struggling to figure out what people actually want after they killed Mega Man and nose dived Resident Evil into the dirt (Which they are slowly recovering from with the much better Revelations 2 and remasters).