Earlier today, reports came out that the director of Fox Engine, Julien Merceron, had left Konami. Apparently, Merceron was dissatisfied with Konami’s shift towards mobile gaming, which according to another report, is finally being put into place. Aside from Metal Gear Online and Pro Evolution Soccer 2016, Konami has stopped production of AAA games.
Although Konami’s AAA slate is blank for the forseeable future, it doesn’t mean we won’t see something big from them, especially since they have the license to the football tournament Euro 2016. But, it’s unlikely. They’ve been discussing moving to primarily mobile games for a while now, and it looks like they’ve finally made good on the promise. Of course, this comes on the heels of last month’s revelations about Konami’s terrifying work environment, so who knows what’s going to happen.
Konami has been taking the industry on a wild ride for the better part of the year, and it may have finally come to an end. Whether or not the company can remain profitable remains to be seen, but Konami president Hideki Hayakawa has stated they wish to “build up a comprehensive portfolio of console, arcade, and card game titles for each IP.” So, we may never see another legitimate Metal Gear Solid title ever again, but there could be a Metal Gear Solid pachinko machine in the works.
Frankly, Konami couldn’t do much else to ruin their reputation more than they already have. Then again, I could be eating those words in a month. Whatever happens, I think it’s time to say goodbye to Konami and move on. Au revoir, Silent Hill, Metal Gear Solid, Bomberman, and Castlevania. I’ll see you in the next life.
In the words of the immortal Strongbad,
IT’S OVERRRRRRRRR
Silent Hill has BEEN dead since 2004, don’t kid yourself. so we’re really only saying goodbye to MGS
I know…but a man can dream.
Don’t forget the Castlevania series. One could before have always hoped they would do something to revitalize Castlevania, Silent Hill, or Metal Gear Solid in the future, but not now. Hopefully they will sell those IPs to someone who gives a damn. That’s free money, so I don’t know why they wouldn’t. But that would assume their business model was built on “making sense.”
Yeah, they’ve got Bomberman too, but I can’t imagine they’ll sell them off. Right now they’d apparently much rather milk nostalgia with pachinko machines and mobile games than release a bigger, main-series title.