Does anyone know why Konami made this sudden shift back into outputting games again?

[CaptainToad]

Did they start losing money on the gambling side? Did they get a new CEO who's more into the game side?

 

[Jayonnaise6105 Jayonnaise6105]

I don't know

My best guess would be that if all their gambling income relied on physical machines that people had to visit, then maybe COVID hit them pretty hard financially?
Like, maybe it took 4-5 years to remaster MGS 3, Silent Hill 2 and develop Silent Hill f and they only put those into production after COVID happened?

 

[Frickinfrik]

Guess they finally realized gambling is for losers who don’t value money. And because everyone hated what Konami was doing. Maybe idk. They might start some shit again.

 

[bjork]

They never stopped making games. They may have not been as visible in the outside of Japan, but they just had (and have) a large presence in mobile there instead of working on the console side of things. They also still support arcades too, you can see a list of their releases on wikipedia.

 

[classifiedobsolete]

COVID hit the health clubs and pachinko parlors pretty hard

 

[gwardojones]

I read in multiple articles that not long after Konami decided to focus more on the gambling and mobile sides of their business, the Japanese government passed restrictions on gambling. It's been awhile, but I believe it was either a restriction on the number of pachinko parlors, or it was a limitation on how many machines a single company could put into a single pachinko parlor, with the result being that it hampered a lot of pachinko developers and lowered their profit. I think COVID dealt a crucial blow that forced Konami to reconsider their strategy. Something to that effect.

 

[CaptainToad]

They never stopped making games. They may have not been as visible in the outside of Japan, but they just had (and have) a large presence in mobile there instead of working on the console side of things. They also still support arcades too, you can see a list of their releases on wikipedia.

Yeah, I looked at their releases on Wikipedia and in the PS3-forward era their releases tanked to a dribble with them mostly releasing sports games or sequels during that time or cheaply farming out games to 3rd parties like Silent Hill. Like half of their PS4 output is Pro Yakyuu or PES games.

 

[nyka]

I feel like they saw how success full re7 and the REmakes were and realized that they were potentially leaving money on the table.

 

[LiberoVulpesLiberoVulpes's icon]

Pachinko ain't giving moolah.

 

[Matricks]

AI goog said their main buzz income is coming from Software sales, hence theres money for the remakes by western devs.
Konamis collections are atill poppy so they will stay awhile, but yeah hideokojima IP let them milking till last drop.

 

[ThatOneLum ThatOneLum]

I think a lot of it has to do with the culture at Konami.

Management there has always been a little bull-headed anyway which is why we had that whole "fuck konami" thing for so long.

I think they were suppoer cautious about getting back into games and only did it because of tighter gambling regs in Japan coming in and hitting their bottom line.

It started, imo, when they first ported a bunch of their stuff to PC a couple of years back. Castlevania/Contra collections and SH4 on GoG was then dipping their toes back in and when it worked they were more ready to greenlight full new projects.

Dunno how true it is but ive heard that Bloober spent years pitching SH games to Konami before they got approval for the remake of 2.

 

[nyka]

AI goog said their main buzz income is coming from Software sales, hence theres money for the remakes by western devs.
Konamis collections are atill poppy so they will stay awhile, but yeah hideokojima IP let them milking till last drop.

can you please not import google ai slop into the chat? Think for yourself, damn

 

[ScriptorFaust]

Good question. I remember exploding with happiness when I saw the announcement for Suikoden Remaster and couldn't help myself but question their intentions. Then again, I really hope they made enough money of those to also release Suikoden III, since I was never able to play it on console. Maybe some of them hit their midlife crisis and did what many do: repeat the past and revel in nostalgia, which would naturally lead to making games again.