Report: Konami is pushing out from the AAA part of the industry minus the PES Franchise

[Nirmugen]

An Eurogamer reporter has confirmed this news at the same time when an important European Konami dev leaves the company.

My worst fears are becoming true and I think this is only the beginning of the end.

[Phantasos]

The end started a long time ago and that was when the Konami developer exodus started around 2 years ago and reached its climax with Kojima Production's being absorbed. This is just the fallout.

[Tad]

Yeah, no surprise. They're turning their back on everything that made them. When the mobile market dies down (and it will, eventually), I hope they land flat on their face.

[George]

Hum, you think that the mobile market is going to die down? It won't. Phones are getting bigger and better, more people everyday in America are spending more time on their phones. I know some people here point to stories about 'big app devs' firing employees, thats because most of these people haven't brought out a worthwhile app in like 5 years (see Fruit Ninjas).

Face facts, people in Japan are not going to stop buying mobile phones until some other new invention comes out to make them obsolete. There is no incentive for Japanese people (who already all left consoles and 80%+ gamers there are on mobile) to leave mobile and rebuy a 400+ dollar machine just to play games.

That makes no sense.

Konami isn't leaving consoles and PC because they are making more money on other avenues. They are leaving consoles and PC because production costs keep rising and they aren't selling enough units to keep that branch profitable. Outside of MGS, no one in the world gives too much of a shit about Konami. Think about it, mainstream media didn't call out Konami on their bullshit practices until the whole Kojima drama, literaly them fucking over developers for years was swept under the rug.

I think its less 'they turned their back' and more gamers just stopped buying their games. Do you think those 2D Metrovania style Castlevania games where doing great? How about those great Contra titles they did that bombed super hard? Kinda hard to stay in a market where your IPs keep bombing.

[Tad]

Eventually, yes. We're already seeing once big companies fall here in the west due to the sheer volume of apps overcrowding the stores. As for the triple A production costs, I agree. They're too high, but simply turning away because of that is quite frankly, a dumb idea. The triple A market is shrinking and the indie scene is getting far better and in my opinion, a much stronger part of the industry now. There's no reason why they couldn't produce their games without breaking the bank. Focus on certain elements and stick with that as a design philosophy.

Also, as good as the Fox engine is, why? Konami have about 3 games that are still relevant against the triple A market and developing an engine costs millions of pounds/dollars. It makes sense for EA as they'll use it throughout this gen on multiple projects (EA Sports/ frostbite for SW:Battlefront, Battlefield etc), but not Konami. Even Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony use unreal etc instead for their games.

[George]

But this is the same issue on the console gaming side of things as well, only that you have to pump 20+ million to impress with your triple AAA games. Are you saying no one is going out of business in the console side?

I find it hilarious cuz in the early 90's a bunch of people where always saying that console gaming would be dead in a few years, then the same thing with PC gaming.

Problem is, its not. Mobile gaming is growing yearly, will it eventually slow down? Sure, but it won't go away.

You are saying that its dying cuz some companies can't compete against other companies. This happens all the time, look at all the failed consoles in the 90's/early 2000's. SEGA lost more money than any of these app makers will ever lose.

[Tad]

I didn't say die. I said dies down (as in, slows down). Once it does, I doubt Konami will be looking at it so blindly as to put all their eggs in one basket. Not even SEGA are that dumb. The mobile market is incredibly tough to break into now with the sheer volume of tat on their markets. Here in the UK, we're already seeing it slow down as people aren't being stupid enough to buy microtransactions. They're quite happy to just wait and play something else instead of paying to speed time up in one game.

As for the console market back in the late 90s or early 00s, it was inevitable that certain studios would fail to make the jump sadly. As hardware and software improve, the mentality back then was your game had to be BIG. It's only recently we've seen that not being true really with the rise of the indie scene - which, in my view, has become the center piece of the industry now. While the indie scene bring out a mix of retro, new or just different, the old slow machine that is the triple A market, sticks to focus testing their way to the usual bland checklist of requirements.

[TimmiT]

Should be pointed out that this is still just a rumor and not actually something we know for sure.

[crackdude]

Konami sucks anyway.

[George]

They weren't the worse, I think if Metal Gear Solid never existed and got the funding it did, no one in the West would have given too much of a shit about Konami dying. Honestly, western gamers never admit that the reason they buy games is due to how much advertising money is spent in effort for them to buy it (not that it will be a quality product).

This is a rumor, but honestly... why is it bad that they aren't going to be spending 20+ million per product? That isn't sustainable... why not good mid-tier budget games that are fun to play? Its funny people here talking about how hard it is to break into the mobile market, when its a cake walk compared to breaking into the AAA games market.

Outside of MGS, Konami has failed at all their other AAA games being mainstream for one reason or another.

[Tad]

Dropping out of the triple A market doesn't bother me (or anyone else I suspect) as such, but dropping out of the console market entirely as suspected is where I think the issue is. The problem I think is one of mentality. They seem to think that every project needs to be big in order to see a return, but it's simply not true, plenty of smaller projects have come along and done perfectly well.

[George]

I think the issue here is people are 'pretending they know' what they are talking about. Didn't SEGA drop out of the console market 6 months ago? IGN, Kotaku, Gamespot all posted fake stories about it.... yet they announced like 6 console games at TGS.

Maybe Konami will, but I think a lot of people need to read the actual information being given out by companies instead of listening to site's clickbait titles.

[Tad]

True, but I don't think it's a bad assumption going on all the movements and reports we're seeing.

If true, despite how badly managed Konami is, it would be a shame to see another company go instead of adapting to the market.

[crackdude]

I'm just thinking.. Aside from MGS, and PES, Konami doesn't have any AAA games

[pirovash88]

http://www.siliconera.com/2015/09/21/konami-says-they-wont-stop-developing-aaa-titles-including-mgs-and-silent-hill/

Konami made a statement, supposedly not pulling out of AAA console games.