Support NeoGAF

[ShockingAlberto]

Kojima was the face of the company. I guess the higher ups couldn't handle his glory.

I hope he joins Platinum Games. He and Kamiya seem to be big buddies.

Yeah I imagine Kojima's penchant for big-budget games that take many years will fit in fine with Platinum's development culture.

 

[pixxxelz]

Make that call, Kaz.

Soon

 

[MrNyarlathotep]

As a general rule, I feel like establishing narratives where one party is pure good and another party is pure evil does nothing but obfuscate whatever the actual truth is.

That said, I have no problem believing Konami was forcing him to do something he didn't want to do, I just don't know that it's necessarily what happened.

Especially if the thing Konami were insisting he do is make Metal Gear Solid games forever.
Which would put Konami squarely on the side of the majority of posters in this thread.

 

[R0ckman]

Why is everyone assuming he wants to stick to making games? He might go into the film industry after all this mess.

 

[Parhelion69]

This is sad news...

So Phantom Pain will be the last "real" MG game. Even if konami keeps releasing those, without Kojima it won't the same...

-----

I remember reading that a konami executive would also like to know PP release date. It seems konami was getting desperate that the game comes out, I'd believe they wanted it out on any form, maybe they pressured that it gets released on its current state, but Kojima denied and wanted the game to be complete. And thus problems came, konami wanting to cash in as soon as possible, and kojima to deliver the game complete. (disclaimer: All speculation from my part)

 

[BIONIC-ARRRMMM!!]

Silent Hills and MGR2 are all but dead at this point.

Fuck Konami.

 

[Sword Familiar]

R.I.P. Konami.

And good luck, Kojima & friends. Hope you form your own company and make 'Wooden Cog: Strategic Spying Action' or 'Huge Flying Robots That Are Totally Not Orbital Frames' among other to be classics.

 

[LiK]

Konami is gonna milk this franchise even harder since it'll no longer be any good without Kojima's insanity.

 

[DirgeExtinction]

Damn, this sucks.

Though, who has the Silent Hills IP? Konami, right?

 

[Mikey Jr.]

Sorry, stupid question, but who owns metal gear solid?

 

[witchedwiz]

Ok.. Goodbye zoe3, you will ve missed

 

[Golnei]

There is no Rising 2.

I'm happy Kojima finally escaped(?), but the inevitable dissolution of any SH and Rising 2 plans is a not-inconsiderable amount of collateral damage...

We'll be celebrating that 2nd anniversary forever.

 

[Pilgrimzero]

Silent Hills might still be made. I mean PT was great advertising PLUS they have Norman "Walking Dead" Reedus as the star. That alone means it will make money.

It just may mean it's not made by the original team.

 

[Sephzilla]

Silent Hills and MGR2 are all but dead at this point.

Fuck Konami.

I wonder how in jeopardy this actually is

 

[ArchedThunder]

I really hope this is false, and if it is true hopefully he joins a good team far away from Konami.

 

[BrokenEchelon]

Seriously, Sony, pick this man up and give him his own studio.

He will create nothing but gold, and he's already had a close-knit relationship with Sony.

 

[abstract alien]

Damn, this sucks.

Though, who has the Silent Hills IP? Konami, right?

Yep.

 

[TheLostBigBoss]

No, I'm sure the game will be fine, and people are definitely still looking forward to it. What happens after it gets released is what we're concerned about.

I'm not.

Sorry, but having a release date after such falling out between the head producer of a game/team and a publisher leaves me to think that MGSV isn't ready, and it's September 1st release date is simply Konami going "You are releasing it at this date, get the game ready and do what you need to do."

It's why I don't see his quote to his team of "making the best game we can make for the fans" as a good thing. I view it as "Yea, we're getting the shit end of the stick, we're getting shafted, but we need to do the best we can with what we have for the fans".

At least that's how I'm viewing it for now.

 

[Veritigo_X]

I don't like what this might mean for MGSV, but I'm actually glad Kojima Productions can go independent. I want to see what they can do outside the Metal Gear franchise.

What's the status on the Fox Engine though? I know that was made by Kojima Productions but I'm guessing Konami owns it.

 

[SPAW]

Kojima & Nomura game incoming!

 

[HarryDemeanor]

The man is free.

 

[Mista]

Silent Hills wont be dead cause the deal is between Del Toro and Konami

On other hand: The Power of Kojima

 

[Krusenstern]

Yeah I imagine Kojima's penchant for big-budget games that take many years will fit in fine with Platinum's development culture.

It's never too late to reach for the stars!!

 

[Shadowhaxor]

Their health and gambling business

OK, but that's not relevant to what we're concerned about. So sure the company will be fine , its computer / video game subsidiaries / divisions on the other hand will not be.

 

[hEist]

oh boy. that's bad. really bad.

time to relive

 

[FinalStageBoss]

Probably been quoted elsewhere, but from a GamesRadar interview with Kojima,

So kojima might be done with the games industry altogether. Heh

 

[Into]

Nintendo dips feet into mobile gaming, Kojima out of Konami, end of an era, things they are a changing.

 

[ShockingAlberto]

Especially if the thing Konami were insisting he do is make Metal Gear Solid games forever.
Which would put Konami squarely on the side of the majority of posters in this thread.

I actually hadn't thought about that, but you're right.

 

[Lostconfused]

It's already finished, isn't it? I thought they were on the final stages.

Unless what I read around here was bullshit. And it probably was.

For western devs it's never finished. After the disc goes gold there are still day 0/1 patches, followed by more patching and fixes are massive crippling problems are discovered. Not to mention that so many games require an extremely stressful crunch period to polish features, bug fix, and get in whatever last minute work was left.

Then you have to wonder about what the work environment was like when this "power struggle" was apparently happening. Well, I am still interested in seeing what MGSV will shape up to be, as potentially Kojima's last game.

 

[staticneuron]

So kojima wasn't kidding when he said it would be his last MG. I am really curious as to what Konami has left. I am not thinking of a franchise that hasn't been recieved a negative reception recently. Before PT didn't the last SH get bad reviews? Outside of MG what else is there?

 

[Stone Ocean]

Rising 2 shouldn't be affected since that's mostly on Platinum's side.

Not like anyone will miss the Kojipro writing on that game lol. But after that - if even that comes to fruition - the series is dead dead dead

 

[JP]

Far more interested in Kojima Productions than anything else Konami has been able to produce for a long time. Kojima and his team will have no issues moving forwards but I wouldn't be surprised to see MGS turn into an annual franchise. Quickly, everybody download P.T. before Konami decide to pull it. It's probably the closest thing you're going to get to a good Silent Hill now,

 

[Alienous]

Silent Hills wont be dead cause the deal is between Del Toro and Konami

On other hand: The Power of Kojima

 

[KiefbladeMaster]

I don't see how Kojima & Del Toro having a 'deal' enables them to keep making the game.. Konami owns the rights, they were the ones who requested Kojima make a Silent Hill game. They even own the engine. I just don't see it happening, unfortunately.

 

[burntchomsky]

Soon

Now, with nanomachines!

 

[makingmusic476]

Man what.

This sucks. =(

 

[RecursiveFault]

As fucked up as this is that Silent Hills is dead in the water,

Kojima is too good for Konami anyway. I knew this day was going to come.

^

 

[AgentLampshade]

I can see it now; every other major publisher execeutives heads just raised, they can smell it. They can smell the money from this news. And in unison - even though they're in different countries - they slowly smile. They check every available funding, phones in use, screaming for a meeting. Like animals in a zoo when a new arrival comes along, they poke and prod and assure the new arrival that if they stick with them, everything will be smooth. They beg, pleading not to go with the other guy because THEY'RE better than them, they can afford the nice things, they won't argue or intrude, they can change, just PLEASE come to them!

And Kojima is the star of the show.

 

[Ushiwaka]

If this doesn't work, I'm sure Ninja Theory would be more than willing to do the western focused reboot!

 

[ffdgh]

Silent Hills wont be dead cause the deal is between Del Toro and Konami

On other hand: The Power of Kojima

Dang already?

 

[Xpliskin]

I don't understand the gnarly people who see gaining control and ranks in a company as a bad thing.

"He was getting too popular".

How the hell is that a bad thing unless you're jealous of the guy.

 

[NoirVisage]

Konami's upper management are madmen, they feel Kojima's value has decreased..If Kojima starts his own studio, the salted crow will be absurd. I can't think of anything else Konami related I liked that didn't have Kojima's seal on it.

 

[Slowdive]

I don't see how Kojima & Del Toro having a 'deal' enables them to keep making the game.. Konami owns the rights, they were the ones who requested Kojima make a Silent Hill game. They even own the engine. I just don't see it happening, unfortunately.

Kojima and Del Toro don't have a deal, it's Konami and Del Toro.

 

[Sho_Nuff82]

This is a perfect example of "When keeping it real goes wrong."

Metal Gear is Konami.
Kojima is Metal Gear.
He's worth more to that company than any of the execs.

Unless he pulled a Top Gear and started slapping people in the face, this is insanity.

 

[params7]

Somebody should reach out to Del Toro to see what's going on. If Silent Hills truly does get canned (most likely now), that will be two failed gaming projects since his presentation with THQ in E3 2011.

 

[GuardianE]

Konami fucked up.

 

[Shpeshal Nick]

Who has IP ownership?

 

[GillianSeed79]

Makes it more disgusting they are trying to hide this mans legacy by removing his name from MGS artwork....sigh.

Hey, it worked for Stalin.Kidding. Kidding. But, yeah removing his name is all kinds of fucked up.

 

[Count of Monte Sawed-Off]

Silent Hills wont be dead cause the deal is between Del Toro and Konami

Yeah, but who's going to develop it? What talent does Konami have left that could make it work?

 

[sonicmj1]

So I'm thinking about what the smartphone Metal Gear will be like and it'll probably be pretty cool! You can make it grid based, sort of like Hitman Go, but instead of a premium product they may go with an energy thing so missions and being spotted will drain your lifebar (rations restore it but cost extra). Collecting cards of MGS characters, weapons, and vehicles and using them AC!D style will be a hoot too, and they can have special monthly events so you have a chance at "capturing" special characters like Tuxedo Snake or Pliskin with their own unique attributes.

They'll probably be able to pump it out pretty quick, too, what with Kojima not being able to stop it. A win-win situation all around.

Grid-based? That takes level design, and that sounds hard.

Luckily, Kojima himself has given them a path forward with the Mother Base management metagame in Peace Walker. Now you can build your own personal base, placing buildings and sending your soldiers on missions to gather resources and recruit more allies. Each mission gives you a chance at finding a special recruit! Pay money to get more resources, cut build times short, and clear missions faster! Work with your friends to fight enemy PMC groups and control the world!