Is a Konami Comeback Incoming?
Konami has been a….frustrating company to root for over the past near decade. It all happened so fast. Hideo Kojima, who was practically the creative king over at Konami, was quickly pushed out. Metal Gear Solid 5 was unfinished despite its high quality gameplay. Silent Hills (aka P.T) was cancelled. It became clear that Konami wasn’t very interested in gaming anymore. While we in the West mostly know and love Konami for their video games, it’s important to note that overseas they do a bit of everything. They are a huge part of the casino scene over there, and even run fitness clubs!
With the rise of AAA budgets during the PS4/Xbox One generation, you can’t really blame a company for wanting to pull out of development. Look at Suicide Squad; Warner Brothers lost roughly $200 million on that game!
And yet, it seems like the chess pieces are slowly moving towards a checkmate. Everybody knows the now-famous revival of Capcom. They went from “Crapcom” in the seventh generation of consoles, back to a top-tier developer.
Is the same incoming for Konami?
For the past year or so, everybody has been giving Konami a lot of heat for their choice in partner for the Silent Hill 2 remake. Bloober Team doesn't exactly have a stellar reputation. But to everybody's surprise, the previews last week were actually quite positive! And there was a similar nervousness regarding the Metal Gear Solid 3 remake since it was being developed in house with Virtuous as a support studio. But lo and behold, the previews for the MGS3 remake were also positive!
And to put a cherry on top of the cake, today Konami shadow dropped Castlevania Dominus Collection and finally gave us a release date of the promising Suikoden 1&2 remasters.
I am absolutely not used to seeing all this positive Konami news. But I welcome it. Castlevania and Metal Gear Solid are both in my ten favorite gaming franchises ever. Suikoden 1&2 are some of my favorite JRPGs of all time. And a Japanese team getting a big budget for a new Silent Hill game would be amazing. Hell, I bet even Zone of the Enders could be put to good use.
It's still too soon to welcome Konami back with open arms. Even though I'm a big scaredy cat, P.T is the biggest heartbreak I've ever had regarding a game cancellation. The idea of Kojima and Junji Ito together still sounds impossibly cool. And the story of Metal Gear Solid 5 (from what I've played) feels lacking. And while we don't know both sides of the story, the way they treated Hideo Kojima seemed needlessly cold. Even if Silent Hill 2 and Metal Gear Solid 3 remakes are great, I need a little more proof of a possible redemption. Because at the end of the day, remakes and remasters are safe. If Konami can prove to us all that they can make great new entries in their beloved franchises, I'll let my guard down. Besides, we can't forget Silent Hill: The Short Message.
