METAL GEAR SOLID V: THE PHANTOM PAIN / 3 AUG 2015
NEW ARTICLE ABOUT KONAMI SUGGESTS GRIM SITUATION AT COMPANY
728 Employee morale at all-time low.
BY LUKE KARMALIAn article in Japanese financial newspaper Nikkei paints a grim picture of the situation at Konami, suggesting employee morale is at an all-time low.
The article itself is in Japanese and behind a pay wall, but freelance localiser Thomas James has translated the salient information into a summary that's unlikely to prove happy reading for fans of the company
The article claims Konami spent more than $80 million on the development of Metal Gear Solid V. While it's unclear whether the ballooning budget was a factor in the highly-publicised fallout between series creator Hideo Kojima and Konami, CEO of a Tokyo-based game industry consultancy Serkan Toto has claimed Kojima's fall from grace occurred because MGS V was delayed.
The piece also alleges problems at Konami extend far further than just those being seen by the public thanks to Kojima's visibility. Issues apparently started back in 2010 following the success of mobile game Dragon Collection - it was then the company started to see low-cost high-profit titles as a desirable area for focus, especially when contrasted with expensive console games.
With this in mind, it shouldn't surprise anyone to hear development on titles in the Love Plus and Suikoden franchises have both been halted, with the creator of the former having also left the company.
The culture at the company is also explored, with cameras apparently placed in the corridors to monitor employee movements, while time cards are used to monitor how long everyone is taking for lunch, with those deemed to be taking too long being named and shamed throughout the company.
Most Konami employees aren't given their own email addresses. While sales and PR staff who have to communicate with outsiders do have permanent addresses, many others have one that is routinely randomised every few months.
Any members of staff "deemed useless" are apparently reassigned to other jobs, including assembly line work at Konami's pachi-slot machine factory, working as security guards and even cleaning up at company fitness clubs. Those affected allegedly include more than just junior staff, with senior producers hit in some instances. This is supported by a 2013 interview by Asahi News in which a former Konami employee was shunted from game development to working in a pachi-slot factory, causing him to suffer severe depression.
In another instance, one employee announced on Facebook he was leaving the company for a new job. This post was then monitored by senior company officials, with any other employees who "Liked" the status reshuffled within the organisation.
Nikkei has attempted to reach out to Konami founder Kagemasa Kozuki for comment without success.
Konami recently announced it was planning to focus on mobile games in future, though this has apparently been somewhat misreported. The company has previously reiterated its commitment to creating new titles in the Metal Gear Solid and Silent Hills franchises going forward, while entries in the yearly Pro Evolution Soccer series aren't likely to disappear overnight.
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