Konami PS4 Controversy

Konami's finally broken silence on the turmoil that's very publicly taken place inside the organisation of late. As part of an enormous, grovelling statement sent to IGN, it apologised for the anxiety which "conjecture" surrounding its future has caused, and stressed that it will continue to create console games – even though it will adopt a mobile-first approach.

As part of the document, the publisher said that it considers the Metal Gear Solid and Silent Hill franchises "extremely important" – despite hanging the creator of the former out to dry and cancelling the most exciting entry in the latter series for some time. "We have nurtured them with care over many years since their inception, and will continue to produce products for both franchises," the firm said.

Speaking to Japanese newspaper Nikkei, flustered Konami president Hideki Hayakawa clarified that the company's "idea of mobile-first is not at all to focus purely on mobile games". He continued: "Our aim is to continue to build up a comprehensive portfolio of console, arcade, and card game titles for each IP while also making the best possible use of the mobile devices that accompany our customers in their daily life."

Hayakawa added that it's putting its own country first and foremost, and with Japan slowly ditching consoles in favour of smartphones, this has led to its adapted strategy. Of course, this also plays into its new centralised organisation structure, which has led to key creators like Hideo Kojima being gagged. In short: its teams are now all working under one roof, so that studios such as Kojima Productions are no longer independently managed.

"[Konami's] power [is our ability] to create groundbreaking IPs, and our power to refine them into progressively better products," concluded Hayakawa. "This has been the driving force behind our business. However, whereas platforms to date were very limited, we now need to split our approaches between console, arcade, card, and mobile games to best suit the needs of the customer."

Make of that what you will.

[source uk.ign.com]