The drunk Jade Raymond gaffe aside, Geoff Keighley's seemingly reckless swipe at Konami was the best moment of The Game Awards 2015. Shortly after Kiefer Sutherland took to the stage to collect an award on the behalf of Hideo Kojima, the Canadian host announced that lawyers had prevented the video game veteran from attending the show.
We know, of course, that Kojima has left Konami, but is currently serving a non-compete clause. It seems that the company's legal team didn't have much faith in him keeping his mouth shut. Either way, Keighley's comments will no doubt have stirred the pot, and there'll be repercussions from this. If anyone was looking for another reason to hate Konami, though, this should do the trick.
Comments 41
I still can't believe this happened.
CEOs and Lawyers, something this world needs more of...
It p***es me off so much that the man and his team couldn't personally accept the award themselves for the game they worked hard on. I hope that clause ends soon so Hideo can finally spill the beans on what happened.
How can he be in breach of any konami contact if he would be collecting the award for the game LICENSED by konami themselves?
@viciousarcanum Clearly they don't want him making public appearances.
Konami blacklisting GameTrailers in 3...2...1..
hmm...
hmmmmmmm....
HHHHHMMMMMMMMM!!!!...
Ok, Konami. I've given it some thought, and I hate you now.
That's ok because I now block all future Konami games from my PS4 😃
Hmm, what repercussions would you anticipate? Definitely sounds like it was worth doing. If a publisher acts that badly, someone needs to tell it like it is. May as well do it on stage, live for the world to see!
Fair play to Geoff for calling them out - how absolutely pathetic. I do think the way in which Kojima has handled the situation is admirable, I'd personally not have been so restrained though once the contract isn't binding anymore that'll be interesting.
Hopefully this will just inspire him further to create something even better than MGSV which was a fantastic game.
Bang out of order.
Has this ever happened at BBC sports personality of the year or the Oscars?
I'm now boycotting Konami for the foreseeable.
Although I've been a bit critical of Geoff in the past, good on him for addressing what we're all thinking at a big event. Konami deserve every bit of criticism coming their way. They've pissed people around for long enough and it's just a matter of time before it comes out in the wash.
I can't believe that, of all people, Keighley announced this. Good on him for calling Konami out, they've gone so downhill this year
There is a very handy T-shirt that Jim Sterling created for just this situation
really HOW is Konami still going
they stop making all the franchises people like ie: Castlevania and sack most of their best developers
i guess those pachinko machines and mobile games must be REALLY popular
Konami can go to hell. Sadly Gametrailers is probably getting blacklisted.
@FullbringIchigo I think Sega, Konami and Namco sat in a room together and had this conversation....
"lets base our Business models on the Western Don Mattrick method, as a backup plan we will then try the Western Acclaim method".
Not buying a Konami game ever again.
Wow..... That is cold blooded. After all Kojima has done for Konami over the years, and they didn't even allow him to publicly receive gratitude?... Completely heartless on Konami's part.
@andrew20
I agree with you on that.
Also, I was never really a MSG fan. But I do appreciate hard work.
@Spirit_Psalm91 I not a mgs fan too.I never played a mgs game.
This was the most jaw dropping moment of the entire show. Good on Geoff for being real and letting disappointed fans know what was really going on.
How low must Konami go, everyone knows how much of a crap firm they are, with no respect for their employees, customers or their legacy
Just a little bit funny
After Batman, Telltale should do "Hideo Kojima v Konami", would probably sell more than Superman and Batman together. Also, they have a few seasons of material already. Honestly, I don't get what's really going on with them.
He went WAY over budget on phamtom pain and had become the face of konami. They were not pleased with his lavish spending and the amount of control he had and was exerting at their development studios so they decided to shut him down. They are within their rights to do so, just seems like they really could have went about it in a much better way and less public. I refer to people like this as "idgets".
Not to mention they need a scape goat for why they wanted to exit AAA development and focus on pachinko and crappy mobile games. Pretty sure it backfired on them, lol. Such idgets.
We need to boycott all Konami games until they fix this.
@andrew20 Boycottin their games won't work, because they're practically done with games. Pachinko machines are all the rage man!
Absolutely disrespectful to the nth term. Regardless of one's opinion on Kojima, he's serviced them for years and is right to accept such an award. Excuse my French, but this petty school playground bullsh*t needs to stop. You'd think that Japanese game development would have some class, but not Konami, nope.
It actually makes you wonder on what the whole story behind it was...did he or Konami have a bigger argument than what is being stated, or was there even something more big going on behind the scenes. Either way, it was this man's game, and they shouldn't have banned him from getting awards, but it's all depending on the fight. Other than that, I still like Konami's games from the past eras (NES, Genesis, Super NES) so I can't shun them out completely.
This was the best thing out of this awards show. Konami getting booed off the stage. The backlash from this is amazing.
Decide what to do with your wallets.
@Captain_Toad
And every bit of it is deserved. Have to wonder how other publishers will react to what Keighley did though. I didn't much care for the guy but he flipped these a-holes the bird and basically put others on notice 'you act like jacka$$es, you will be called out like you deserve to be.' He's gained my respect. It'll be interesting to see how the gutless, lower than dirt corporate slobs who run companies like EA, Sony, MS, Nintendo, SE, etc react to that though. If he's looking for help from these bigger companies to get funding for the event, he just burned a whole bunch of bridges because just like scummy politicians, scummy corporate slobs tend to stick together.
Wow Konami, I didn't think you'd could get any lower. Sad to see what has happened to that company. Konami was great back in the day: Metal Gear, TMNT, Contra, Castlevania. The more they try to defend themselves and hide behind lawyers, the worse they look.
I'm pretty sure Kojima banged some Konami CEO's wife, this is getting ridiculous. I mean, what else could he have done for Konami to despise him so much?
They fear him so! Like a gigantic nuclear-equipped walking battle tank, they do! Cower behind your clauses, Konami, for the Kojima-pocalypse is nigh!
Glad this was called out, all too often in the games industry everybody is in each other's pockets and work together to cover up things that could generate bad press.
Although with Konami's change to a mobile game and gambling machine company they have little to offer anymore.
I am impressed he called Konami out, good integrity right there. They are bullies, can't pretend it's not happening.
Disgusting attitude from Konami
@Boerewors He had to have done something terrible thats for sure.
But Konami is so sad i dont understand this is not how a company should behave well we dont have to worry now anymore Konami is gone from the big picture please let them sell there great titles and move on.
@Flaming_Kaiser
The thing with gamers is that we're as loyal as a cat: whoever feeds us is our friend. So now we all talking bout taking a stand and not putting up with this sh*t, but Konami doesn't care. First of all they want to leave the volatile console- game industry all together but more importantly: will we boycot a remake of Symphony of the Night?
Talk is cheap and although I feel bad for Kojima and I'm looking forward to what he's doing next, when PES 2017, MGS6 or a new Castlevania or remake drops I won't be able to say no, although I absolutely resent what Konami has done. I hope this whole endeavor hasn't scarred Kojima in a way that he wants to leave the industry all together.
Konami: it's sound like 'mon ami' but they manage to act as the complete opposite of that
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