Konami Reportedly Blacklisting Ex-Employees Across Japanese Video Game Industry (arstechnica.com)

The Nikkei Asian Review newspaper is reporting that the Japanese entertainment company Konami is blacklisting former employees in the Japanese video game industry. "The company is particularly targeting those who work for Kojima Productions, which was founded in 2016 by Hideo Kojima, who used to be a top designer at Konami," reports Ars Technica. From the report: Furthermore, according to the article, Konami is pressuring other companies not to hire its former employees. As the Nikkei Asian Review wrote: "One ex-Kon described his surprise at learning that Konami had instructed an employee at a television company not to deal with its former employees. In another case, a former Konami executive was forced to close his business due to pressure from the gaming giant. Ex-Kons are not allowed to put their Konami experience on their public resumes. 'If you leave the company, you cannot rely on Konami's name to land a job,' explained a former employee. If an ex-Kon is interviewed by the media, the company will send that person a letter through a legal representative, in some cases indicating that Konami is willing to take them to court."

Comments

payback

[bugs2squash]

sounds like Konami needs a taste of yie ar kung fu.

Hello Jim Sterling!

[Anonymous Coward]

time for another Fuck Konami news!

Re:Hello Jim Sterling!

[lgw]

Came here to say this. Looking forward to the next "Fuck Konami News" segment on the Jimquisition.

Re:Hello Jim Sterling!

[UnknownSoldier]

Between Fuck Konami, "Oh Ubishit", and 17th century aristocrat ... "Thank God Jim Sterling" :-)

What do you think of the new opening song?

Re:Hello Jim Sterling!

[negRo_slim]

Hey cool I saw you on Ars Technica. Small world bro!

https://arstechnica.com/busine...

Re: Hello Jim Sterling!

[UnknownSoldier]

I didn't care for it at first -- I really miss the old theme "Born Depressed" as the lyrics are crystal clear and fit perfectly. Over time the new song did grow on me though and it's a OK choice.

100% agree what the viewer is just "over-loaded" from the get go -- by the time your brain gets "in sync" with the audio and visuals it is all over. I agree that the lyrics are really hard to get into as well.

I also found that the new animation style grew on me -- I didn't at first. BUT:

1. What kills it for me is that I just wish there was a ~2 second "build up" to pull the viewer along, instead of shooting off leaving them behind and they go scratching their heads "Uh, WTF just happened?"

2. There is just TOO much of it to follow along, you barely get time to digest the last part before you're floored with new stuff. "WAIT? WHAT was that? That looked kind of neat." I guess we're in the age of the "ADHD Intros" -- where there is so much shit going on that you are forced to watch multiple times to get it all. I blame Hulk (2003) for starting this crappy hyper sensory overload trend that has infected everything.

I guess what I'ms saying is that I really wish the timing of the animation was slowed down by ~40% to make it easier to follow along. I guess they didn't want to drag the new intro. out TOO long butI believe there is a better balance to be struck somewhere in the middle.

With some more attention paid to pacing I think the new intro could work. Right now it just seems to be a rush job. Correct me if I'm wrong but I also agree with the jist of what you are also saying: "Oh Look! Here's some After Effects effects! SHINEY!"

Still, it's "Jim Fucking Sterling, Son" and thankfully the intro. isn't why we are there. :-)

TL:DR; Pacing too fast, Flashy but lacks substance, Lyrics too hard to make out

P.S.
Oh Wow -- looks like others were same the same thing and they started making some changes!!

The latest intro is MUCH better. Compare:

Mod Theft Auto (The Jimquisition)
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

to

Goodbye Greenlight
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Obvious solution:

[Gravis Zero]

Just use the Konami code to get infinite money. ;)

Re:Obvious solution:

[Anonymous Coward]

ie. lawsuit.

I'm obviously not going to bother if this affects US based employees - but easiest lawsuit ever if it does. Completely and obviously illegal.

Re:Obvious solution:

[crypticedge]

yeah, this would fall foul of so many laws in the us its not even funny.

google and apple got hit a few years back for trying to prevent their former workers from being hired at tech places if they left. They had a quite substantial fine for that one.

Re:Obvious solution:

[Grishnakh]

No, they didn't. It was a laughably small fine, far smaller than the amount of money they saved by engaging in the illegal behavior.

Re: Obvious solution:

[Maritz]

small pro-gun group in google, but it's constantly under pressure.

Bizarre that this kind of thing is considered OK. For me, keep your pro-gun or your anti-gun personal views at home. Work is work, not a fucking soapbox.

Fuckonami

[Anonymous Coward]

So, Konami is worthless to work for?
My, how the mighty have fallen. I can't wait for Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night!

Re:Fuckonami

[Osgeld]

unless you like shitty japan only bejewled clone arcade machines, which is about all they "make" anymore

Hideo Kojima, I feel, is a strong reason Konami is dead though, they went from a strongly diversified company, with little to no bad games, to metal gear old gay cowboy space marine never ending soap opera crap in the blink of an eye. That's not his fault though, they should have never let it get to that

Re:Fuckonami

[Anonymous Coward]

Which they do because it's steady money cheaply made. I mean, say what you like about selling out artistic vision, but in the end (as sad as it is) that's a compelling bottom line.

Re:Fuckonami

[Osgeld]

no I have a problem with a series that does not know when to end, you on the other hand saw the word gay and instantly associated it with meaning something negative in my summary of the entire series, so maybe you have some sort of problem

Re:Fuckonami

[Cederic]

metal gear old gay cowboy space marine never ending soap opera crap

Which game was that? Sounds interesting at least.

Re:Fuckonami

[Maritz]

You seem to have some sort of an issue with the concept of a strong male character who just happens to also be gay.

Nope, doesn't seem like that at all.

Wish they'd put that much effort into their games

[Anonymous Coward]

If Konami put half as much effort into developing their games as they apparently do into harassing their former employees, maybe they wouldn't get so much hate from gamers.

Re:Wish they'd put that much effort into their gam

[Vermonter]

Maybe it doesn't feel like it in the US, but their Bemani division (the division that produces all of their rhythm games like Dance Dance Revolution, Pop'n Music, Beatmania IIDX, etc) seems to be doing quite well. Beatmania IIDX just came out with it's 24th arcade installment this year and shows no signs of stopping.

Gamers will forgive and forget anything

[rsilvergun]

if the games are good. Blizzard and Bethesda have done plenty to be scorned for. But Konami hasn't released a good game since MGSV. I suspect they'll get eaten alive.

Re:Gamers will forgive and forget anything

[Razed By TV]

Eh, I'm kindof done with Blizzard.

Diablo III was tailored/dumbed down too much for the console crowd. And for a game that is all about loot collection, stash expansion is a painful process (unless you happen to live in China, where it is available as a micro transaction).

Overwatch has the FOV capped too low, resulting in motion sickness for many players. They won't change it because of their focus on aesthetic and professional play.

Starcraft II didn't compel me to complete the campaign, and I was disappointed to find out that the custom vehicles in the campaign weren't available in other maps. Really cool idea to see technology evolve in game, but poor execution taking away my toys.

Re:Gamers will forgive and forget anything

[SScorpio]

You forgot the flying whale.

The story and missions aren't the point of the game. The MGS game have always had disjointed WTF stories. Kojima has a major hard-on for 80s US action movies and loves to reference the hell out of them.

The reason the games are popular are because of the gameplay. You have a large set different systems in the game that you can utilize and play how you want. MGSV is seen as a great game because it actually allows you to play it however you want.

Want a stealthy game? Spend the game crawling while distracting the guards to sneak by to get to the objective. Or hide in a box in the back of a transport truck which will drive you into the enemy base as it's making deliveries.

Want something more run and gun? Load up the ballistic armor, equip an AR, missile launcher, and the robot vehicle. Zoom around blasting everything to bits while you call in additional mortar strikes and have a helicopter rain in hellfire missiles as it blares Flight of the Valkyries.

Or maybe you don't want either extreme. Play with the sniper sidekick and play it as a tactical shooter where you are calling out targets as you sneak around.

Re:Gamers will forgive and forget anything

[Wraithlyn]

Yes, the story is an over-the-top, disjointed, incomplete mess. It's clear that Konami killed funding before the game was finished. Nobody argues this.

But how does it PLAY?

Gameplay is king, and MGSV shines here.

is that lawful in Japan?

[muphin]

i dont live in Japan, but would like to know the legalities of this, a company preventing an ex-employee employment?

Re:is that lawful in Japan?

[Anonymous Coward]

It's not only lawful, it's not that uncommon a business practice. Konami is just being more open about it than most.

Japanese companies really feel that their employees are belongings more than people, although they'll try to phrase as 'in the family' or such. By leaving, you've betrayed Konami, stealing the experience you gathered working for them. You're trading on Konami's reputation and past works to benefit yourself - and Konami, like many Japanese companies, will not hesitate to get revenge.

Back in the 90s, it wouldn't be uncommon for a company to call up the new employer of an ex-employee and say something like "We have nothing to do with this individual's child pornography habits" or "We can confirm that the employee was never actually convicted of embezzlement". And, unsurprisingly, the ex-employee would often lost their new job. Even the rumor of a scandal could cost jobs, and with the personal ties between companies (from mom-and-pop shops to the great zaibatsu) being blacklisted in one place often meant losing access to dozens or hundreds of companies, or even entire industries.

Re: is that lawful in Japan?

[Anonymous Coward]

It is allowed. Under the samurai code, ex-employees are expected to commit seppuku. If they choose not to, future employers would be dishonored by employing them.

Re: is that lawful in Japan?

[bursch-X]

Well, that's not how it works in Japan. If you don't have anything good to say in Japan, you'll find something good to say. You usually don't say anything bad. You just praise something less related. So it would be very hard to she anyone for libel, because all they do is praise some unrelated qualities and that is a clear red flag to anyone praying attention.

Re:is that lawful in Japan?

[Neo-Rio-101]

Probably isn't legal, but that has never stopped Japanese companies pushing the boundaries of labour laws, and bullying their employees.

If you leave a traditionally minded Japanese company, they will bully you into staying. They will haul you into a meeting and scold you.
Then they will say things like "Why are you leaving the company! You can't! You still have work to do!"
And then say things like "After you leave and go to this other place, are you OK that we send you your unfinished work?"

Ridiculous of course to the western ear... but to the Japanese ear who has no spine and has been bullied all the way through school - some actually can't handle the pressure and the bullying and apologize and stay with the company! ... even when they've been offered better work!
If they stay, they get treated like backstabbing traitorous unfaithful dirt and paid less from what I heard.

Re:is that lawful in Japan?

[Neo-Rio-101]

Mod Parent up.

The thing is that many employees who quit usually don't make a formal announcement that they are leaving, but instead will simply stop showing up to work... leaving no message to the old company and leaving no paper trail. Possibly changing phone numbers and rental apartment addresses before starting a new job so the old company can't track them.

That's how you avoid uncomfortable meetings with managers when you tell them you are leaving.

Re: is that lawful in Japan?

[Anonymous Coward]

"is a clear red flag to anyone praying attention"

FOUND THE JAP!

Re:is that lawful in Japan?

[Anonymous Coward]

It's not only lawful, it's not that uncommon a business practice. Konami is just being more open about it than most.

Being common business practice doesn't make it lawful. Japan has labor laws comparable to other advanced economies - weaker than Europe certainly, but stronger than the US's "at will" employment. The problem is a cultural aversion to rocking the boat and demanding the legal rights that they should have.

Re:is that lawful in Japan?

[Anonymous Coward]

Remember, human resources are resources first and humans second.

Re: is that lawful in Japan?

[Anonymous Coward]

You mean they don't have white middle aged men who beat their wives?

That's what you meant, right? Because those are the people shooting up offices and schools.

Re:is that lawful in Japan?

[alantus]

Because people don't have guns in Japan, it is a civilized society after all.

Re:is that lawful in Japan?

[turbidostato]

"Probably isn't legal, but that has never stopped Japanese companies pushing the boundaries of labour laws, and bullying their employees."

I can understand they don't want you to leave, what I fail to understand is what's the strenght they have to bully someone?

Can they really succesfully demand you not to put you were there in your resume?
Can they really go to their competition asking for not hiring you with any chance of success?

"a former Konami executive was forced to close his business due to pressure from the gaming giant"

Well, yeah... But *how*!?
-Pretty please, close your business, close your business, close your business, close your business, close your...
-OK, OK, I'll do it but just shut up!

Re:is that lawful in Japan?

[Neo-Rio-101]

The Japanese recruiter I spoke to said that he had to coach the leaving employees into resisting the bullying by being super polite. It is of course completely legal to change jobs, and the bullying is really a paper tiger tactic - but it obviously works because some Japanese really don't have a spine. I think this breed is only a step up from the "hikkikomori" who are too scared to leave their bedrooms.

Legally you have to give companies two weeks notice before leaving, so to be on the safe side they recommend giving them an entire month.

That said, many employees do a disappearing act because it's easier than facing the music and telling the boss that you're leaving.

Re: is that lawful in Japan?

[Hognoxious]

Nope. That's be extra "u"s, like in colour, flavour, flour and couca-coula (which we prefer warm, by the way).

Re:is that lawful in Japan?

[Anonymous Coward]

Seems like something reasonable to do, when there's a very clear danger of having your ex-company chase you and try to ruin your life, if you decide to leave for some reason or another.

Re:is that lawful in Japan?

[AmiMoJo]

but to the Japanese ear who has no spine and has been bullied all the way through school

This is just complete bollocks. You might as well say the same thing about the spineless American who was bullied all the way through school. Most people, most companies are nothing like that.

Re:is that lawful in Japan?

[Anonymous Coward]

local SJW weeaboo

AmiMojo is not a weeaboo. Maybe a Japaneophile (a very superficial one at that), but that's different from weeaboo

Weeaboo is specifically about liking Japanese manga and anime. Manga and anime are not known for their pro-SJW values, especially in how they portray women and girls (this also extends to video games coming from Japan, Nintendo and Mario are great contributors to Anita Sarkeesian's career)

AmiMojo's love for Japan is more general, and only in cherry picked details.

For example, AmiMojo might praise Japanese companies for how they treat their employees like family, not throwing them out like some stereotypical American company would for a quick buck. What AmiMojo would ignore is how Japanese company culture is also very sexist, with most important positions taken up by males, and valuing employees like family is mostly because it was expected that those males have wives and homes to take care of, and it is their male gender role to be the breadwinner. Many women in the company are "OLs", who do pink collar jobs with little chance of advancement, and they are expected to quit when they are married off.

Re:is that lawful in Japan?

[Khashishi]

That's what katanas are for.

Re:is that lawful in Japan?

[Megol]

So you have experience from living in Japan and working in multiple companies there? You have never heard people (in Japan) talking about things like this?

Re:is that lawful in Japan?

[AmiMoJo]

I lived and worked in Japan, yes. I have friends there.

They didn't think this through

[mfh]

The answer to this puzzle is simply not to ever work for them. Surely then they will just go bankrupt and disappear, since the best people wouldn't dare join them in fear of similar activity if it doesn't go well.

Do you ever want to work somewhere you can't be fired from?

Re:They didn't think this through

[Neo-Rio-101]

Many Japanese can and do work at places where they can't be fired.
How's that for job security?

Re:They didn't think this through

[thegarbz]

The answer to this puzzle is simply not to ever work for them.

That is a great way of dealing with an isolated actor, but not so good when dealing with the cultural heritage of an entire country.

Don't think this is isolated to Konami.... or even the gaming industry.

Re:They didn't think this through

[mfh]

Don't think this is isolated to Konami.... or even the gaming industry.

Then the answer is simple. Don't work for big companies. Take your ideas and build your own team to execute them.

Re:They didn't think this through

[thegarbz]

Then the answer is simple. Don't work for big companies. Take your ideas and build your own team to execute them.

Sure. While you're at it tell the French to work longer hours, the Spanish not to eat dinner at 9pm, and the Italians to stop napping at lunchtime. Japanese culture is not very welcoming of the ideas you put forward, and they definitely aren't open to these as a suggestion.

What you say would work well in most other countries of the world, not a country where people will happily commute for 4+ hours a day to work in a big city in a big company, or a country where an employee can die at his desk and no one notice for days because they just think he is napping after taking an all-nighter due to his incredible dedication to the corporate family.

Streisand Effect

[FFOMelchior]

I'm sure this announcement will help Kojima and hurt Konami. Good riddance.

Re:Streisand Effect

[Anonymous Coward]

While I'm 100% hoping this will backfire on them, the Streisand Effect is not applicable.
This is just: company did something bad and just got called out for it.

If the story was, Konami tries to censor reports about it's blacklisting that would be Streisand.

This sucks for recruiting

[Snotnose]

If I'm thinking of taking a job for Konami this story will make me think "7/11 cashier. Midnight to 8. Hey, no lines at the grocery store!"

Re: useless company

[Anonymous Coward]

Late-stage capitalism doesn't care how honorable your company is. Before the early nineties (and the explosion of the Internet) there were still a good number of thousand-year-old companies in Japan. Sadly, now there are very few. 3 or 4 bad years and Konami are gone.

Re:Fucking barbarian savages

[DontBeAMoran]

And Americans still live in the shotgun era.

Re:Wish they'd put that much effort into their gam

[drinkypoo]

We are apparently less OCD than the Japanese (news flash!!!)

Re: useless company

[Desler]

Konami was founded in 1969. The fuck are you on about?

Simple solution

[LeftCoastThinker]

Apply for asylum in the US and start indie game shops here... I have many fond memories of classic Konami games: Contra, Castlevania, Belmonts Quest, Life Force (Salamander), Contra: Alien Wars, Gradius III, TMNT 4: Turtles in Time, etc. Make some updated, new games on the same concept with Unreal engine 2D graphics and put it up on steam and sell a few million copies at $9.99 a pop.

Re:Simple solution

[LeftCoastThinker]

Stupid is as stupid does, apparently. This lie has been spewed by the progressives for years to justify hatred of America, but lets look at the facts:

1. China was invaded by Japan very rapidly thanks to an army of Japanese saboteurs already living in China. Japan was brutal to the Chinese civilians (look it up).
2. Japan invaded the Philippines rapidly, aided by Japanese saboteurs, they were brutal to the Filipinos.
3. The Japanese in Japan and many in the US worshiped Hiro Hito (the emperor of Japan) as a god. His word and that of his generals was absolute.
4. The US rounded up the mostly un-integrated Japanese population and placed them in confinement for two reasons: Emperor worship and the high incidence of saboteurs in the Japanese population of other nations invaded/at war with Japan. No Japanese persons were physically abused for their nationality, nor were they executed like the Jews in Germany, they were detained for the duration of the war. You were more likely to die in combat as a non Japanese US male than experience any harm in a Japanese detainment camp as a Japanese male.
5. POWs captured by Japan were treated horribly, mutilated, beaten and treated as slaves and sub humans. Many died in POW camps, those who survived were often maimed for life due to abuse. Japanese POWs captured by the US were treated humanely and released after the war.
6. Japan attacked Pearl Harbor without warning in a surprise attack intended to maximize the deaths of US soldiers. The US dropped warning leaflets over Hiroshima and Nagasaki days before the nuclear bombs. The children were all evacuated, and the only reason that anyone died in those bombings were the evil Japanese government that forced people to stay and work building guns, planes and tanks instead of evacuating.
7. After the war, US residents of Japanese decent were released back into society. None of them were executed or physically scarred. There may have been a few individual criminal acts by guards that happened in the Japanese detainment camps, but those that were discovered were punished. It was certainly not encouraged or condoned.
8. After the war, Japan was decimated. The US spent millions to rebuild Japan as an ally, we destroyed Emperor worship as a religion by demonstrating that the emperor was just a man, and created a stable democracy that is Japan of modern day.

If the Japanese today dislike the US for WW2 it is because of progressive lies and ignorance of the truth about what transpired.

Kill every Konami executive

[Dog-Cow]

So much for Japanese "honor", huh? Every Konami executive should have a katana rammed up their asses.

Re: Fucking barbarian savages

[Anonymous Coward]

Dont be silly. Shotguns are poor weapons for most applications outside of hunting and hone defense. We live in the era of modern handguns.

Re:Wish they'd put that much effort into their gam

[Plus1Entropy]

Konami doesn't care about making video games. They care about making Pachinko machines.

Re: Wish they'd put that much effort into their ga

[Cederic]

Something tells me you just don't have the moves.

This is not lame:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...