Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Hideo Kojima To Depart Konami; Metal Gear Franchise Changing Hands

Posted by Soulskill on from the jumping-the-solid-shark dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima is set to leave the video game publisher Konami, ending 29 years of service. Konami had announced a restructuring earlier this year, and observant fans recently noticed the removal of references to Kojima Productions from the company's web site. A source speaking to Gamespot states that both developments are the result of a "power struggle" between the studio and its parent. Konami has now confirmed to the English-speaking press that Kojima will work on The Phantom Pain until it is completed, but they are searching for new staff to take over the Metal Gear series. Kojima's only other announced project was Silent Hills, a horror game created in collaboration with Guillermo del Toro.

42 comments

  1. Metal Gear by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Metal Gear... It can't be!

    1. Re:Metal Gear by erapert · · Score: 5, Funny

      Kojima? Kojima?! Kojimaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!

    2. Re:Metal Gear by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      LOL WUT? Assassin's Creed wouldn't be my pick. If you'd said Tomb Raider on the other hand, you'd have been right.

    3. Re:Metal Gear by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 4, Funny

      There's only two good reasons to like Tomb Raider.

    4. Re:Metal Gear by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I agree that Metal Gear sucks, but so does Assassin's Creed and every game that Ubisoft has ever shit out.

      You want a good stealth game? Go play the first three Thief games (I haven't played the reboot, so I can't comment) or Deus Ex and Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

    5. Re:Metal Gear by Coren22 · · Score: 1

      Or Payday 2; stealth bank robberies. When you succeed in a steal bank heist, there is no better feeling as so much work goes into a successful heist.

      --
      APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
    6. Re:Metal Gear by newcastlejon · · Score: 1

      Skip Thief 3 and play the new one. Terry Pratchett's daughter was involved in designing the city and it shows: you almost feel like you might be sneaking round Ankh Morpork at times.

      --
      If God forks the Universe every time you roll a die, he'd better have a damned good memory.
    7. Re:Metal Gear by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not to say that they weren't good, but Thief: Deadly Shadows was better than either of the first two Thief games.

    8. Re: Metal Gear by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Everything about game was downright horrible, including the art direction and writing and her involvement was minimal in post production.

    9. Re:Metal Gear by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

      Challenging game play and good level design?

      --
      Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
  2. It's a FAAAAKE! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This entire story is being hyped and hysteriated by media gossip mongers. Konami have already addressed this and said Kojima will still be working on Metal Gear. The Media refuses to print any retractions just to keep the clicks up.

    There is no story here. A plaid, boring corporate restructuring in the wake of a major release, perhaps as development winds down. It's possible Kojima is indeed retiring, possibly moving into higher management, possibly taking an extended vacation. But none of that matters. Even if the truth comes out -- it has -- the media will continue to hype and sensationalize this story for clicks.

    I'm tired of what the internet has become.

    1. Re: It's a FAAAAKE! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Things like his name suddenly being removed from game and promotional material make it seem like something a little more serious than a simple company restructuring.

  3. Boo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What's with all the gaming posts ?

    1. Re: Boo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      News for nerds? Although it certainly isn't stuff that matters.

  4. I have a great idea! by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 5, Funny

    Maybe they can get EA to take over stewardship of the franchise! Those guys sure know how to nourish and cherish a beloved series, don't they?

  5. Working as a contractor. by HalAtWork · · Score: 1

    It would seem like he'll be working as a contractor, still involved with his current projects. Presumably the deals in place with Silent Hills and MGSV will continue, but after that, who knows. There's a nice breakdown here and here.

    --
    Twinstiq, game news
  6. Darn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The remake of MSG3, otherwise known as "the good one", will have to be done by someone other than Konami! Say it ain't so.

    1. Re:Darn by Coren22 · · Score: 2

      Monosodium glutamate? We're talking about MGS here, not MSG.

      --
      APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
  7. This is a good thing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Maybe they can reboot the series and jettison the utterly ludicrous, nonsensical back story. Just make a decent game with decent play mechanics and without the hours of cutscene whargarbl.

  8. Whoa! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Does this mean the Metal Gear series might start making sense again?

  9. Konami auditioning for project leader on next MGS by HalAtWork · · Score: 1

    Konami's saying that they still intend to develop future titles, but a press release states that they are auditioning for project leaders, casting doubt on Kojima's future involvement and lending creedence to the allegations from GameSpot's unnamed source.

    --
    Twinstiq, game news
  10. Not a coincidence by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You rescue him in Ground Zeroes...

  11. Bad move by Konami by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Given how much Konami has gained from the Metal Gear series, it seems insane to push out the man behind the concept. Much like how Sony mistreated the guy who developed the original Playstation.

    However Konami really isn't the company it used to be, and I think they have been shifting from what was innovative to what is commercially viable now. They are another faceless game company churning out crap. It's sad, but it's the easy way out.

    I hope somebody else snaps up Kojima and gives him a chance to work his magic. And I hope this doesn't kill Silent Hills, because that series has sorely needed an injection of life from Japanese developers. The US and European-developed games have been terrible.

    1. Re:Bad move by Konami by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Kojima has more than once expressed his disinterest in the franchise. Some say he kept making the titles silly and over the top because he doesn't give a crap, but it turns out that fans /love/ that stuff.

      Indeed, the bizarre humor in the MGS games is something I love. It's so off the wall that it has a sort of truth-is-stranger-than-fiction feel to it that makes it more appealing than the predictable and boring "acceptable" tropes that most games follow.

    2. Re:Bad move by Konami by CronoCloud · · Score: 2

      Much like how Sony mistreated the guy who developed the original Playstation.

      Ken Kuturagi, who was batshit insane in his design decisions. Developers complained about the arcane architecture of the PS2 and then he made something even MORE arcane.

      Sure they're both extremely powerful for their time in certain ways, but Kuturagi forgot that developers are lazy, especially X86 devs and that they would be unwilling to take the extra measures for the most part.

    3. Re:Bad move by Konami by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      This happens at every IT company eventually; the management gets rid of their best paid talents and try to squeeze a few more hits out with junior team at minimum salary. And then they get out with their fat bonuses just before company collapses.

    4. Re:Bad move by Konami by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Having shipped a few PS2 games, and helped numerous PS3 devs, the situation is a little more complicated then that.

      The PS2 had *blazing* fast VRAM bltblt copies. Yes, the cpus (EE, SPU, IOP, VU0, VU1) were a complete bitch to write for, but it was a beautiful site to behind when everything was working.

      While the PS2 had a completely broken Z-Test (who the hell QA'd this??), it was ahead of its time. It predicted multi-core architecture that (game) devs had to embrace sooner or later. The Xbox with its unified memory definitely made things WAY easier then the complicated PS2.

      The PS3 with its 6 SPU's of only 128KB each (!) forced developers to break the game up into "small jobs". It highlighted the problems of C++ OOP -- that it doesn't scale, and that you NEED to use DOD (Data Orientated Design) in order to achieve high performance. So while the PS2 and PS3 were "batshit insane" it had unintended benefit -- help move developers to embrace the "multi-core DOD" future.

      On Xbox developers were typically CPU bound, while on PS3 developers were typically GPU bound.

      The problem with the success of PS2 and failure of the PS3 was that Sony forgot what business they were in!? They were NOT a hardware manufacturer, but an entertainment company. It cost them 4 years of being in the red with the PS3 to remember this fact.

      Sony moving to x86 for the PS4 allowed them to use "commodity" parts & pricing. Make things _easy_ for the developer and you'll get more/better games, or at least that was their justification.

      So while I agree that yes x86 game devs tend to be lazy compared to console devs, the x86 guys had a valid point:

      * Why is the hardware SO complicated?

      The battle between fast & rigid and slow & flexible is never an easy one to answer.

    5. Re:Bad move by Konami by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sony may have become "an entertainment company" but they were very much a hardware manufacturer when the PS2 was launched.

    6. Re:Bad move by Konami by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 1

      Clarifications / Fix typos:

      Sight, not site
      * was a beautiful sight

      Games, not developers:
      * On Xbox games were typically CPU bound, while on PS3 games were typically GPU bound.

      SCE (Sony Computer Entertainment), not Sony
      * SCE forgot what business they were in!? They were NOT a hardware manufacturer, but an entertainment company. It cost them 4 years of being in the red

      Sony makes the most from insurance. Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) owns

      * SCEA (America)
      * SCEE (Europe)
      * SCEJ (Japan)

    7. Re:Bad move by Konami by mattack2 · · Score: 1

      While the PS2 had a completely broken Z-Test

      What is this referring to?

      Is it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z... ??

      If so, can you give a real world example of this being used in a game?

    8. Re:Bad move by Konami by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Pretty sure it was referring to this, or something related:
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z-buffering

    9. Re:Bad move by Konami by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 1

      It is a graphics term, the Depth Buffer Test, is commonly abbreviated Z-Test by us graphics guys.

      On the PS2's GS (Graphics Synthesizer) the z test can be set to a few of the normal 8 values:

      NEVER, ALWAYS, LESS, LEQUAL, EQUAL, GREATER, GEQUAL, NOTEQUAL

      One of the tests, LESS_THEN_EQUAL, IIRC, was completely broken. The reality was that you had to reverse the test and work-around it. Not a HUGE problem, but still, a sign of SCEI making custom hardware and not fully testing it. (i.e. The memory cards on the PS1 was extremely flakey.)

      Fore more details see the OpenGL man pages on depth buffer testing: https://www.opengl.org/documen...

  12. What does this mean for Silent Hills? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That's one of the upcoming games I was most excited about.

  13. Me by xombo · · Score: 1

    I'll do it.

  14. Good Riddance by TheNinjaroach · · Score: 0

    Metal Gear is a great game, but after playing through most of the series all I can say is "good riddance." Hideo seems rather arrogant and self-indulgent, his ego leaves too big of an imprint on the game and tarnishes its quality. Getting rid of him is no guarantee it will get better, but at least there's a chance.

    --
    I went to eat some animal crackers and the box said, "Do not eat if seal is broken." I opened the box and sure enough..
    1. Re:Good Riddance by tudsworth · · Score: 3, Insightful
      Kojima's been trying to break away from the Metal Gear series for a while now, to be fair. His other notable works; Snatcher/Policenauts, Boktai and Zone of the Enders are all fantastic games; and his ego or arrogance never really imprints them -that- much... or it fits in better with the more fantastical settings of those games.

      As for the Metal Gear series getting any better, I don't think I trust Konami circa 2015 to do the franchise justice. Castlevania's name is forever tarnished by subpar God of War clones; Pro Evo Soccer has been floundering about in some attempt to copy FIFA, forgetting all about the more arcade-styled gameplay that set the series apart to begin with; Gradius, Contra, BomberMan (yep, they own that now!) and more franchises than I can remember are essentially dead to them; and the franchises they do still make games for just aren't making them any money due to a complete lack of advertising or just being shoddy products in general.

    2. Re:Good Riddance by mattack2 · · Score: 1

      Ooh, which ones are the God of War clones?

    3. Re:Good Riddance by tudsworth · · Score: 1
      The Lords of Shadow sub-series for PS3 and XBox 360. It's kind of disingenuous of me to refer to them as a "clone" of a more popular game - but they're third-person action games in the same vein as God of War, with a very similar emphasis on being "cinematic" - whatever that means. The combat's the usual "mash light attack until a symbol pops over their head and use a QTE to execute them" fare you'd expect from God of War and its ilk; and the games have absolutely nothing in common with the exploration-based platformers ("metroidvanias", if you must) the series has been known for ever since Symphony of the Night.

      I admit, my dislike for Lords of Shadow is at least partially influenced by the fact it's nothing to do with "proper" Castlevania, but the fact there are much better examples of the kind of game it is definitely helps.

    4. Re:Good Riddance by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Pro Evo Soccer has been floundering about in some attempt to copy FIFA, forgetting all about the more arcade-styled gameplay that set the series apart to begin with

      Pro Evolution Soccer (or "Winning Eleven" for eastbound friends) high-point in my eyes was around PES3/PES4, when it ran circles around FIFA as the more accurate football simulator. FIFA was the one that was "arcaded" beyond recognition, to the point that it held very little resemblance to the actual sport. The point of PES was that it was the more realistic game, whereas FIFA aimed for the lowest common denominator. The PES series was revered among enthusiasts, while FIFA had player licenses and was bought by the masses.

      Compared to FIFA, PES was unapologizing hard-mode. With very little training, a FIFA player learnt how to always spike free kicks into the top corner, score goals outside of the penalty area at will, dribble through an entire team, etc. Games ended 11-8, quite unlike real football. PES was a lot more complex, and to be a decent player you needed to actually "coach" the team, order sections of the team around while controlling players and always have a perfect view of the mini-map to set up crosses and what not.

      One of my most cherished PES moments was when I went on an attack with a wing back, failed, and my friend who I was playing immediately could counter attack and use the exact hole that player had left by overloading my defensive line at the right places. PES came scary close to real football at times (especially when compared to FIFA), which was the series main strength.

    5. Re:Good Riddance by tudsworth · · Score: 1
      I feel like "arcadey" was probably the worst way I could have put "the gameplay was considerably better than FIFA's", and I'm glad somebody's come along to correct that. I'm not much of a fan of football as a real sport, but have, until the more recent attempts to copy... whatever it is FIFA's trying to do (which started around about the Xbox 360 and PS3 era, I believe) always considered PES the more enjoyable of the two to play.

      Of course, the power of licenses outdoes quality for the majority of people, and that definitely didn't help PES in the long run.