There has been much made of the turbulent situation going on over at Konami concerning their focus on gaming and specifically their relationship with Hideo Kojima, famed developer of the Metal Gear Franchise. A franchise that has been one of the cornerstones of Konami (and arguably the only one that makes money here in the states). The situation reached its peek when Konami started removing Kojima’s name and the name of his studio Kojima Productions off of all marketing for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Naturally this lead to rampant speculation and theories on Kojima’s departure, Konami removing him, and the studio closing. At one time there were rumors he had been fired and rumors he had taken a larger corporate role in the company, we are really just in the dark. For many this is the most frustrating aspect of the drama, we still have no clear picture of what’s happening or what will happen. Japanese corporations in general play things very close to the vest and do not bow to public pressure near as much as American corporations seem to. Weeks ago it seemed to level out with Konami claiming it would return Kojima’s name to his products but today it seems that is not the case, new images released seem to show Kojima’s name and that of his studio have been removed from the cover of the game.
Naturally fans are outraged and the logical next question is “Do I boycott the game?” Cause that is what we always resort to when we’re not happy about something. I get it, “speaking with your wallet” is one of the only tangible ways we have to tell big companies what we think, but who exactly does it hurt? Kojima has announced this will be his last Metal Gear and that he will leave the company after Phantom Pain releases. This series has been his labor of love for over 25 years, he has tried to walk away multiple times but just can’t leave it in anyone else’s hands. I’m willing to bet the robotic arm in my pre-ordered Collector’s Edition that Kojima would want nothing more than for people, especially fans, to experience his final chapter in the saga. He has poured his soul out into one final masterpiece and to think that people may miss it to make some point to a corporation that has shown it’s fairly tone def and indifferent to fans anyway seems sad to me. After this game? do whatever you want. Never buy from Konami again, I probably never will but only because no other series of theirs interests me and their new “Mobile focus” scares the daylights out of me. After you give them that last $60 or so you can walk away for good but in this instance you could very well be “cutting off your nose to spite your face”.
Perhaps saying goodbye and farewell would be easier if the two sides would just tell us what the heck is going on! If this whole thing was pitched as a farewell and thank you to Kojima for all he has done I don’t think we have this issue.
As a general rule of thumb I make it a point to never tell people what to do with their money. Every situation in every household is different and people place different emotions and importance on different things but this time I’m breaking my rule. If you were really looking forward to this game but now are consider boycotting it in protest I would implore you to reconsider. Who are you hurting? Kojima doesn’t want that he wants you to love and experience what he has poured his heart into for most of his life. If it’s good enough for Kojima, it’s good enough for me.
But on September 2nd Konami, you are fair game…
Most of the noise made by gamers on the net, is that of a very small vocal minority. People bitch about everything on the net. Still games like COD, GTA, FIFA, etc end up selling exceptionally well (record numbers). At the end of the day, I can see this being one the highest selling MGS titles in Konami/Kojima history.
Kojima’s last MGS. Built from his heart, for his fans. Konami is dead for me after The Phantom Pain.
boycott one of the few remaining games built for gamers by a gamer….yeah i think not : /