There have been a lot of mixed feeling surrounding Japanese publisher and developer Konami of late. On the one hand, they are in control ...
So that means no more Metal Gear Solid games on the PS4 or Xbox One. The same can also be said for Castlevania, Silent Hill, and Suikoden to name but a few of the major properties Konami owns. There are two short-term exceptions to this: Pro Evolution Soccer will continue to be developed for consoles to produce a game for the Euro 2016 championships. Metal Gear Online development will also continue.
Konami has apparently decided to focus all its efforts on mobile platforms going forward, a fact that has been rumored before. Such a decision would give a clear reason for Kojima deciding to part ways with Konami. It has also seen the company’s worldwide technology director Julien Merceron leave.
What this means is that we’ll probably see well-known names including Metal Gear and Silent Hill continue to appear on new games, but they will be for smartphones and tablets. There is no Metal Gear Solid 6 in the works with or without Kojima, and certainly nothing ever on the scale of the $80 million Metal Gear Solid 5.
This is a huge shift for Konami, but one they have clearly been planning for a while with worsening financial figures pushing them in this direction. At least their exit from console gaming ends on a high with the positive feedback the latest Metal Gear has been getting. We should also view this as a positive because it has forcibly freed up some key staff (Kojima) to go and do something new. That’s very good for games.
[Konami E3 2012 image courtesy of The Community on Wikimedia]
