Mobile Is Konami's Future, According To President Hideki Hayakawa

AND... bye Konami. It was fun playing your games while it lasted.

@ikki5 Took the words right out of my...hand.

goodbye konami. at least you will go out with a bang. MGS 5 looks like it could be the most epic game ever. thanks to kojima, not you!

Really hoping they hand some of their beloved franchises off to others publishers/developers so they can continue on consoles, not just mobile spinoffs.

Otherwise, I guess we'll be seeing a lot of spiritual successors on Kickstarter...

Tsk, pathetic. Are they really expecting to get up, or even return to their former shape, this way?
Their problem isn't the wrong market, but the wrong mentality. First, Konami wanted to play with the big guys, and now that they gloriously failed, they turn around like a spoiled brat, going all "I don't need to be a good developer, I do what I want" out of sheer spite, as if somebody told them they're not invited to the party. Oh well, Kojima and IGA are already away from you, so there's nothing important left to ruin, anyway.

...and Konami falls victim. Curious as to how this news comes literally a day after Square Enix reports they're shifting focus from being console-oriented to concentrating on mobile. I don't play games on my phone and never will: battery life isn't that great on smartphones anyway and I'm not draining mine for anything other than calls/text/browsing/etc.

And that's the end to Konami waves goodbye to them Mobile games SUCK!

Sounds like they are driving off a cliff at 200 km/h.

They'd better input the Konami code first. Might need the extra lives...

And with this, Konami will be left in the dust. So many great companies that are falling out of existence anymore and it's becoming a shame. Hopefully someone picks up their franchises and continues them.

Data East also did the same thing Konami did before going bankrupt in 2003.

Konami is seriously having a love affair with mobile and is coming out about it. Time to tell the kids Konami's made up its mind and isn't coming back.

Also, I'm so relieved to hear we'll be buying features instead of items from now on, I really felt like that was holding back the fun factor and more importantly, the company. It's a great day

I hope every day that countries will introduce restrictions on microtransactions that are similar to the restrictions on gambling and that would cause the mobile gaming market to tank.

I am an avid supporter of mobile gaming and evolution of mobile gaming (even though I don't game on mobile that often), however I have to say that Konami is killing themselves.

So both Konami and Square Enix, huh... I think it's pretty pathetic, but hey, what matters to me is that neither of those companies matter to me, so nothing major is lost. It will suck if this becomes a trend and developers more relevant to me follow suit, however.

More like ''Goodbye Hudson Soft...'', I stopped caring for Konami a loooong time ago.

I GIVE MY LIFE

I get the feeling that the mobile market will crash hard and Japanese devs will go bankrupt. It's not that I want them to, but I can't shake this hunch

Saying mobile is the future of gaming is like a movie studio saying their future is YouTube. I realize that mobile gaming isn't as bad as my inner fanboy thinks it is (he really hates it), but there are some serious problems to the market that I honestly believe are true and not just me ranting illogically. First, people expect their software to be virtually free, so the only way to make money is to take advantage of their inattentiveness and have them pay a few cents over an over without realizing it. Second, less than one percent of games make money; it's probably one percent of one percent. Third, there is zero brand loyalty. A successful game doesn't create fans of that studio who wait for their next title. Those people will jump to the next big thing and have no idea who created it, and won't care. Focusing exclusively on mobile is like buying lottery tickets for your retirement plan, and pretty much guarantees they'll be out of business in five years.

"We will pursue mobile games aggressively"

...
...pfff....chhhh....pfchhhh....BUAHAHAHAA xD

Seriously ? THIS is your recovery plan ?
Konami should start publishing books: "Corporate Suicide - A step by step guide to ruin your company"

Folks, we have a winner. While Ubisoft and EA still duke it out who gets the "Worst Company" badge, Konami won the title of "Most stupid Company".

Square landed on 4th, neglecting the pontential of their own IPs, they still have a few money makers under their hood that are usually not half bad or at least devent enough.

3rd place goes to Capcom. While massively stupid, they still are able to not completely sink and are currently on life spport by Sony.

The 2nd place goes to "maynstay IPs" Sega, ruining their reputation one Sonic game at a time.

But oh man...turning into a one trick pony company, completely dependant on the "One Man Kojima" show and then fireing that one guy, just to announce "Were going mobile now, jay " is reinventing idiocy right there.

My sides are in orbit xD

Sound the death knell

Thanks for the great memories over the years, Konami. Best of luck on mobile. You won't find me in that market though.

Not going to miss you, Konami. GTFO

I'm haven't played a Konami game since the Wii era with the DDR series and Castlevania: Judgement, so this don't shock me.

If it's any consolation the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG seem like a perfect match for mobile devices with all it's features and ease of interaction with others with the game.

I've never understood the fascination that big companies have with mobile games. While it has become an emerging market and many games make a lot of money (either through ad revenue or through microtransactions if they are free), I do like the idea of owning my games and don't like the idea of free to play at all. Like others have already alluded to in the comments, many mobile gamers have NO brand loyalty and only play the games that are trending, with social media keeping them relevant until the next thing goes viral. Why would you have all your eggs in one basket (in terms of game development, I know Konami has other areas they make money)? It's such a volatile market, and one that possibly won't even SEE your games, nevermind care about.

For me, this announcement really means "we can't make money providing great gaming experiences, so we've decided to focus on taking as much as possible while giving as little as possible". And for me, this may have well have been an announcement of their departure from video games, as I'll bet the F2P games they create are reliant on online servers, which could go south if Konami still doesn't make money.

It's a shame that more and more companies are moving to this, I'm dreading the day where console/handheld development shifts to mobile platforms instead of PC, and all the games that get released are F2P abominations.

Before kill itself sell your IPs Konami.

Konami is so absent minded to the point that I'm glad that they are gonna plan on leaving the console industry. Now there's gonna be less reasons why Sony's Playstation brand is worth any gamers time.

Ghee, what next world? How about letting Capcom go mobile too when they had losses when making games on Mobile in the first place? Square? Yeah let them go mobile when their ports on phones are terrible compared to the originals.

What are you guys gonna say next? Nintendo to go mobile once the mobile exceeds their expectations? Stupid investors. You're all greedy as Wario(Except that Wario is still far better than you because he only thinks about himself but you guys want to put our lives to make your lives better! XD)

Looks like I won't be spending any more money on them from now on...

Chances are I'll still get the odd PES for PC every three years or so. And traditional Castlevania games, if those ever become a thing again. Other than that, good riddance, Konami. I won't be supporting you (or any other company, Nintendo included) on mobile platforms.

Goodbye Konami...

If I were Nintendo/Microsoft/Sony/Steam....or any other video game developer., I would contact Konami now about the possibility of "leasing" and developing their IPs. Maybe Nintendo/Microsoft/Sony could do what Nintendo did for Bayonetta 2?

Well, that's that for Konami and console games. I guess they'll be happy with mobile money and pachinko machines.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
I think I'm done . . . Nope!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Oh boy, how the mighty have fallen!

@TruenoGT
Agree 100%

Good buy Konami, farewell(unless not faring well makes you return to consoles).

The Konami I cared about is long gone. I have no feelings of loss about this, this is just the next step in Konami's fall from grace.

@Yorumi To be fair, if any big name dev is catering to a "niche market" its Nintendo. No focus group tested games, no flooding the market with their own IPs ala Ubi (cant believe there is another AC coming out again -.-), no DLC scams, no Pre-Order shenanigans.
So pretty much nothing that is considered "the norm" these days.
And despite all that, they are doing pretty good right now.

And regarding Nintendos mobile endevours: They announced a partnership with a company, who knows its way around the mobile market, and still, they are taking it extremely slowly instead of jumping the gun and throwing their stuff at it.
Think what you want about that, im personally not a big fan, but at least it seems that they are carefully calculating what they are doing, while other devs, liek Square for instance, release one broken port after the other onto the mobile store in hopes of making a quick buck with it.

Nintendos situation isnt even comparable to Konamis, so i dont think that such a Headline with Nintendo in it will be seen anytime soon.

Well... nice knowing you Konami.

Eh, I don't really care what Konami does anymore. I was only in it for Castlevania.

This is why sales matter. Some people get so annoyed at those of us that show an interest in sales (although I suspect what actually annoys them is Nintendo's lack of success in that area), but it's hugely important. Especially in Japan, all the money is being made from mobile games, so that's why all the publishers are going there. Nintendo has show time and time again they're no different to anyone else about going after profits and I fully expect more and more focus to be placed on mobile games by them when the ridiculously large profits start to roll in.

It always bother me to hear that "Mobile is where the future of gaming lies."
Sorry, but.. no, simply no, it's surely a strong market and can't be ignored by the industry, but if gaming in future will lie there then it means it will be also lying in a coffin >_>;

RIP Konami.

@PanurgeJr I actually don't think it's just you being a fanboy. Mobile games, at least right now, are the ultimate stockholder dream--least amount of product produced to most amount of money made. Not that every mobile game makes money, but the focus seems definitely to be on producing games that will constantly make money through forcing purchases instead of being all that fun.

After "firing" Kojima, Konami became dead to me. I am buying MGSV:TPP, and if they were to remake MG games using the Fox engine, and are good, then I would buy them. Other than that and Virtual Console releases, they are dead to me.

@Yorumi On Disc / Day one DLC / chopping games apart ? When did that happen ?
And in regards to the NSMB series, there are 4 titles on a different platform each. Im also not the biggest fan of it but come on, its not that bad.

And OoT got remade 1 time for the 3DS, everything else was either a bonus disc for the GC or a VC release, i also fail to see the problem in that to be honest. People hold this game in high regards, often naming it one of the best games of all time, i think its rather good that they give as many people a chance to play it as they can.

Youre absolutely right with Pokemon though, as that series is pretty milked without any "real" innovations here and there.

And with "Games designed to target and exploit serious addictive behavior" you probably mean their F2P games ?
So far, they all have been rather tame compared to the many others out there. The Recent Rumble World for instance can very well be played without spending a louse cent if done right.
Im glad that this isnt their usual modus operandi, but ive seen far more aggressive F2P models. Though i hope it stays at that level, and doesnt become more explotative.

@Drac_Mazoku "since they decided to continue working on what is getting them money" Oh, did they made the games their core audience asked for ? Did i miss their recent Contra, Silent Hill and classic Castlevania outings ?
Seriously, if they are focused on what makes them money, they wouldnt have ended up in such a situation.

Wow I'm trying to picture a modern mgs as a mobile game...

… what the He k is Power Pro?

Played one Konami game, the Star Wars card game… it's quite terrible, with players on even doing the card battles for most of the game. No, experience riveting gameplay of tapping static storm troopers to kill them. Over and over.

The frustrating thing is mobile is doing extremely well in japan so this could work but I'm hoping it's a blunder.

This news F*****G SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
NOW IT WILL REALLY LIKELY BE THE END FOR KONAMI!

Well I guess we will probably see all those PCEngine games Konami owns the Rights too on smart Phones. Gosh I just hate the thought of that. Konami should have been busting out the VC games. This is terrible news but these guys gotta go with the money we know that. The future of console gaming gets more clouded everyday.

Farewell Konami I will play Gradius in your honour.

Considering other companies in their position did this before, and suffered quite a bit (Capcom, Square-Enix, Sega), and those were people genuinely putting effort into at least a good amount of their games...if it doesn't hurt them commercially, it will definitely hurt their reputation. Good games don't sell nearly as well as Exploitive cashgrabs on the mobile market, especially in the long run. They only have one option, and it won't be good for us, the players...

@Yorumi I hear ya! Day 1 DLC is such a scam. I've bought into it though because if you want the extra content you will pay for it. All this nickle and coming greed just kills the experience in little ways.

So Konami's future is being a s*** company.

Thanks for being so honest about it guys!

@Yorumi So far, no Amiibo has "unlocked" anything really game changing. And if you purchase an Amiibo, you not only get a quality figurine, its also used in many different games. You can hardly compare them to DLC.

Youre right with Xenoblade, though who had the last word in that ? Nintendo or Monolith ? And as long as its quality content, and not "Horse Armor" im fine with it personally. It doesnt seem like this has been deliberatly cut from the game to be sold seperatly and instead, came up later in the design cycle and couldnt be put in the final product (as it has to be printed and shipped).
Though thats hardly an excuse, it IS Day One DLC, though not vile or dispicable one in my book.

As for Fire Emblem, that was a rather weird move and i still dont see the need to release it in several games. And it kinda defeats the purpose of "changing the course of the story".
But then again, its not a game i closely follow, so i dont know any details about why that decision was made.

And lastly, Smash. Deliberatly cutting characters ? Youve got to be kidding me. If anything, they already worked overtime to get the game out it was in its vanilla form. Everything else is stuff added on top.
If characters like Mewtwo would have been deliberatly cut from the game, why do you think it took them several more moths till it was ready to be sold ? If the data was already there, why not offer it from the beginning ? Especially for such a highly demanded character ?

Oh boy, adding more and more topics laugh
"Incomplete games" isnt really the term id be using here. They are adding features post release, there is nothing fundamentally important missing from it. Also, tehy are upfront with it, its neither hidden, nor locked away by a paywall or some arbitrary subscription model.
Also, whatever they do, it wont be right.
They could have delayed the release to finish potential ideas that came up late in the development cycle and it would have been wrong too.

The Jimquisition - Konami is konami

The Jimquisition - R.I.P. P.T. - Why Can't We Keep Nice Things?

Translation: "we failed at the AAA game so we are going to mobile to raise quick cash and then become nobodies when somebody else gets it's 15 minutes of fame"

Mobile games konami you will never have my support!

@Yorumi I will point out what I pointed out to someone else a while ago. Go look at lifetime sales numbers for Nintendo games... I'll wait.

Now, as you hopefully just saw there are four properties of Nintendo that sell: Mario, Zelda, Pokemon, and Donkey Kong (although DK is a historical thing). Nothing else, no matter how much it is loved, reach even half the sales of those four.

So when you next complain that Nintendo is putting out another Mario game, remember that Mario is what makes it possible for them to fund Metroid, F-Zero, Star Fox, and all those other properties you love. Mario, Zelda, and Pokemon are keeping the lights on and paying the bills not everything else.

Now, back on topic. Konami is going where they are making money, but they will quickly find out that it is a cutthroat marketplace and a race to the bottom. At first, they will be able to trade on their name and properties like square does but when they have no games left to punder, well i guess they will do like Sega and abandon the games to release "new" versions of them. But we see how well that is working for Sega.

Thanks Konami! You just helped me save money by knowing not to buy anymore of your games.

@PanurgeJr Exactly. My argument against mobile is that it is "Predatory." The majority of mobile games are based off in game purchases or "features," as "Con"-ami likes to put it. The games aren't good as they're designed around impulse buying and target people who have that kind of immaturity to spend freely. Can't wait for mobile to die.

Nintendo should hire kojima now that he's unemployed and that konami is no more.

Well, sad but won't be missed I guess. I don't think I owned a single Konami game on my 3DS, and their only game I'm fond of is the Winning Eleven/PES back in PS1/2 era. Not really a fan of it but I had fun with that back in the day with my brother/friend.

Oh how all the greats had fallen, when mobile is the only platform you had to thrive on, then your company failed:

• Sega
• Atari
• Capcom
• EA
• Square Enix
• Konami
• Level-5

@Yorumi Ubisoft and Activision earned their titles for other reasons. Mario might get used a lot in games, but generally each game on the same console is different (NSMBU and SM3DW). Mario is also used to boost the sales of games that otherwise might not do well in the market (Mario Strikers, Mario Sluggers, originally Mario Kart, Mario Party, and even Smash Bros.). I think Mario Galaxy and Mario Galaxy 2 was the first time that a direct sequel came to the same system with largely unchanged gameplay (unless you want to count the addition of Yoshi as a major change). But each game generally takes a new concept and plays with it to make new challenges (I agree the NSMB series has done this less than other Mario series).

In comparison, Activision basically releases a $60 multiplayer map pack with a paper-thin single player corridor shooter campaign and then charges $15-20 per additional map pack (which you better purchase if you want to play online) for a few times before repeating the process. Until recently very little in the game changes between versions other than the multiplayer maps you get to play on.

Ubisoft for the most part has done the same thing with Assassin's Creed. Every Assassin's Creed game until recently plays exactly like all the previous AC games. They fire them out in a half debugged state and rarely ever actually address the buggy mechanics of the engine that powers all of them. If you want, you can include Watch_Dogs in that list as it mostly played as modern AC with the same irritating chase, follow and escort missions. At least they took the step of letting players voice that they hate follow or escort missions now.

All big gaming companies want a slice of that mobile cake. Too many individuals had eaten into their sales, now the giants are stomping the mobile ground.

Really, it's not a bad thing. Mobile games were lousy because they were made by inexperience developers and under budget. More big gaming companies coming on board will set the standard. I really think that this generation of consoles are the last, NX may even be canceled if mobile sales is doing well for Nintendo. Or more likely, NX will incorporate a customised Android that can run mobile games besides their own platform.

The future of gaming has dawned upon us. Hallelujah.

@LztheQuack Konami looks pretty well diversified lots of different markets little risk cannot see how they will fail.

@Nintendian The ones being made by the big game companies are equally lousy. Take Ubisoft the Gamepad bits of Rayman Legends would be a perfect mobile game but they make a boring endless runner instead.

@unrandomsam @Yorumi

You are talking about current mobile games, but when all these big gaming companies start to focus on mobile games... it will be different in the future. I believe big companies will take over the mobile platform and forced indie developers aside. Indies just can't compete with their budget and manpower. When that happened, games will be sold at console price and people will buy it. If its a good game that can't be played anywhere else, people will pay a good price for it.

Do what ya gotta do Konami. If you make a good mobile game I might support it. I do play a few of em.

RIP Konami, for you are now dead to me.

@Yorumi It's all to do with perception, current perception is that mobile games are casual games. If Nintendo, Capcom, Konami and others create high budget ORIGINAL games for mobile, people will soon change their perception of mobile games. People are not stupid, they can tell by the quality if it is a high budget AAA game, people will pay for it if it is good.

Console games used to be simple: Look at the original Atari and NES, mobile games are also going to evolve, but much quicker if big games companies are willing to spend time and money on it. Current offerings from Capcom, Ubisoft, EA, etc are just experiments to test the market. If they are willing to spend the budget they used on developing console game to make original games for mobile, people will buy them at higher price.

"Mobile is where the future of gaming lies." I hope this isn't the case. I wish people would vote with their wallets, unequivocally against micro-transactions.

@Nintendian You're underestimating the power of the mobile market. The big companies will develop down to what sells, rather than consumers adjusting expectations--and more importantly, willingness to pay--up. For every person who games on mobile as a serious hobby, there are easily thousands who do it because they already have the device so they might as well have a bit of fun for a few minutes. And they are never paying premium prices. Ever. They can, however, be conned out of nickels and dimes, but spending multiple millions to do so is an abysmal business plan.

@Yorumi It's the same with mobile, the first iPhone can be compared to a calculator if they were benchmarked against the latest iPhone 6. And it's going to get even faster in the future. The mobile cpu and gpu are already several times that of PS Vita. Console quality games are now possible, years ago probably not.

Most of the offerings from Capcom, Ubisoft, EA, etc were ports or dumbed down runners because they aren't willing to commit to the mobile platform out of uncertainty or fear that it will flop. The tides are changing, especially with Nintendo doing games for mobile, I believe many gaming companies are watching Nintendo very carefully in the next year to gauge their success and see if its worth the cost and time to create proper original games for it.

@Yorumi Give me some examples.

You are still thinking of the 'old' market. The future market of mobile games will be very different, especially with so many established developers making games for it.

@PanurgeJr In Japan, gamers are migrating to the mobile. That's why console sales are so bad over there. Sooner or later bigger game companies like Konami will have to make mobile the priority. Console is a sinking ship, if they stayed loyal to it these companies will sink with it. Most are already jumping ship. Maybe not in the West, but it really is happening in the East.

And it was on May 14th, 2015 that Konami died.

Why do these Japanese companies not realize that outside of Japan mobile games just don't sell well...Japan has a population of under 100 million and that leaves another 3-4 billion potential customers who live in places where mobile gamers make up for 1-5% of the dedicated gamers. It's a really dumb move unless you only cater to the Japanese market in the first place. FACEPALM

@Yorumi You didn't hear what I'm saying. They should be making ORIGINAL games, not porting games from other platform. If it is a good AAA game that's not available anywhere they can charged higher price. But to develop these ORIGINAL games required money and time which is risky. Nintendo's success in the future for mobile games will convince them eventually.

I am not talking about indie games, they don't have to budget or people to make games like Zelda, Resident Evil or MGS. A well known game like these and being specially developed for the mobile and ORIGINAL, not available anywhere else will command attention. Fans will pay for it.

@Nintendian
"Console quality games are now possible, years ago probably not."

define "console quality", because that's a moving target.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WX3F7OF6qKo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkQZgX-_T1M

Mobile games are still weak, partly because of power and partly because of the default control (touch screens are limited compared with gamepads)

lol

@Yorumi

I am not talking about indie developers, no one knows them or care about their games. Nintendo, Capcom, Konami, Namco, etc can make an original mobile game based on their franchise and it will become news, no advertising needed.

I stopped being a fan of Konami ever since they "fired" Team Silent in favor of Western developers,look how that turned out... RIP Konami...

@AJ_Lethal That Need for speed is not a good example. It's basically a port. I am talking about a whole new generation of a franchise developed specifically for mobile and no where else. Fans will have to play on the mobile, there's no choice. Imagine if a completely new Zelda is made only for mobile, all fans will buy it even if it's sold at console price. Even if Hardcore Nintendo fans boycott, there's hundreds of millions of smart phones and tablets users out there. It's the blue ocean that Nintendo wanted.

Don't estimate the touchscreen control, Nintendo developed their games based on the input device before anything else, they are the master of interactivity. They will find a novel way to use the touchscreen that will surprise everyone!

I got to say i'm going to miss this company. How they have fallen so hard

@Yorumi Sony is selling their PSP games on their own brand of mobile, that's why they were reluctant.

Let them attack aggressively

@Yorumi You are definitely getting annoyed now, so I won't continue this conversation. In the future I will say to you 'I told you so'. ))

If Konami does go bankrupt as a result of this, while unlikely, I kinda hope that Nintendo will swoop in and save them by buying the company along with Hudson (if they're not included in the deal already). Then, not only would Metal Gear Solid, Castlevania and Bomberman become Nintendo exclusives but we could also get Snake back into Smash since he would now be 1st Party! Plus, other MGS characters like Grey Fox and other Konami characters such as Simon Belmont and Bomberman could join the roster as well!

Looks like casino machines and mobile are where the company's priorities lie. More power to them-- I will not forget the past great hits and series.

@Yorumi This is an article about Konami. Why do you feel the need to turn this into a 'Nintendo are just as bad' conversation?

I just want to point one simple truth. Mobile gaming is big in the West, but it is insanely huge in Japan. Much larger then both handheld and console gaming over there.

I know people are going to blast Konami, but look at it from their viewpoint. They are a Japanese company, they likely will go where the players in their homeland are. That's why so many Japanese companies have shifted to handhelds in recent years. Because most gamers in Japan are now on handheld systems.

That's why Konami, Sega, and Capcom failed in the AAA arms race. Their home market does not give a damn about home consoles anymore. Look at the sales of the PS4 and the Wii U. They are nowhere near the sales of handhelds in Japan.

Like it or not, Mobile Gaming is the elephant in the room that can't be ignored. And more companies are going to mobile gaming. Why are people shocked or blasting Konami for this move?

When Nintendo, a company whose entire business model relies on selling hardware and games to move that hardware openly admit that they need to get onto mobile devices, then what do people expect from companies like Konami?

Its a sign of the times, and the stark contrast between gaming in Japan and the West. The Japanese gamer is generally on the go, which means handhelds and mobile games appeal to them more, while in the west, big Console games on HD TVs are what western gamers want.

Konami, Capcom, Sega, and other major Japanese third-party developers tried to appeal to western games. In some cases they did not quite get it and they faltered.

They lost to western developers who understood how to make AAA games, and whose experience with PC games helped them make the jump to hardware that became closer to PCs.

What we are seeing now in a reaction from the Japanese developers who lost money and were left bloodied trying to play the AAA game from developers like EA, Ubisoft, and Activision.

Japanese developers have retreated to what they know, which is handhelds and mobile games. They have gone back to not only hardware that is cheaper to make games for, but has millions of users in Japan and the rest of the world.

Its sad to see Konami take this path, but I'm not sure I can blame them 100% I think its less about their mistakes, and more about the divide between the tastes and playing preferences between the West and Japan.

Its one of the key reasons why the Wii U has seen so much trouble catching on this generation. Japanese developers are just having a hard time finding success in the west. For whatever reason, many of them just can't grasp what western gamers want now compared to the past.

@Yorumi When the trend of Nintendo does nothing but pump out identical clones of the same game (which NSMB is getting close to doing) I will agree with you. However, Pokemon is problematic since it is not Nintendo, but the Pokemon Company that milks their formula (which Nintendo does not have full control). Personally I have bought exactly two Pokemon game in my life (the first Gamecube one and the horrible Pokemon Rumble U) so I am far from qualified to judge them, but any game that starts with the premise of releasing two versions of the exact same game irritates me on principle. But again, I don't actively support The Pokemon Company, and from the outside what they do doesn't differ much from what Square does with Final Fantasy (as in here are the tropes played out in this reality).

Now, if you want to discuss the sin that Nintendo is guilty of we can talk about their endless re-releases of old games. I am good with virtual console re-releases, but these remakes drive me nuts. That is as much shamelessly (and lazily) milking their past as it is when Disney removes a movie from their "Vault". About the only way I appreciate it is from a preservation point of view, but the VC manages that fine.

Back on Topic: I don't mind developers putting games onto mobile devices, but I am not a fan of the current business schemes employed. I do not like in-app purchases that punish those that don't part-take, nor do I care for in game advertising from unknown, shady, disreputable third parties ad servers. I also despise the virtual D-pad that most games try to use when they are replicating a console game. Those three things keep me mostly away from mobile games and as such I will stay away from Konami if they do the same.

You know, after all the not so optimistic news coming out about Konami you'd think they'd try to strengthen their relationship with Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony but this...is not the way to go, Konami. Not the way.

I could care less, I never really played a Konami game anyways.

Yeah, the future of videogames are the mobiles, because:

-Many people have smartphones/tablets, more that consoles.
-Videogames are more ""cheap"", both for people and game company/developers that consoles nowadays
-The profits are more positive that consoles ones

Sad but true, business is business, and that means sacrifices that sometimes does not appeal to everyone.

However, there more problems that only profits, and are:

-Lack interest for videogames.
-Lack of games with new ideas
-Problems between workers and managers in the companies

And that means that although many companies that make games for consoles, mobiles go to, they could have the same result. This if it really is a serious case.

@Nintendian
"That Need for speed is not a good example. It's basically a port"
Please show me where the game was developed in other platform than iOS/Android before first, unless you want to come up with a solipisist as hell definition of "port"

"Don't estimate the touchscreen control, Nintendo developed their games based on the input device before anything else, they are the master of interactivity. They will find a novel way to use the touchscreen that will surprise everyone!"
Have you tried to use a virtual d-pad for more than 20 minutes? Your hands get sweaty and it literally halts your inputs to a standstill. That's why the touchscreen alone can't beat traditional controllers.

@Yorumi
I know. My whole idea of Konami going bankrupt and then being bought out by Nintendo was more wishful thinking than anything and if any company was to buy them it would probably be Sony anyway.

It's a shame to see Konami exit the console market, but it isn't surprising. Companies prefer to go where the easy money is made. Sucks for the console gamers though.

@Yorumi I think that's because until, say, the end of the 6th generation, Japanese development was the main market. Sure, the west has always been a bigger market than Japan, but that's in terms of consumers. The producer side of the market was dominated by Japanese game development. The market shifted to western development with the advent of HD and Microsoft's entrance. Games like Halo and GTA really started the shift I think.

CoD 4: Modern Warfare was the big tipping off point for Japanese game development though. That game's massive success helped bring AAA gaming to a more mainstream audience. Pretty much every developer in the industry saw those CoD numbers and wanted a piece of that pie. Japanese devs/publishers like Capcom and Konami tried to go after those numbers, but failed horribly because Japanese game development had already fallen behind beforehand, so they weren't able to catch up in a time of skyrocketing development costs.

That's why Japanese development has fallen from grace.

On a side note, Nintendo was technically the one who did on-disk DLC first. Event Pokemon? Yeah, that's on-disk (er, on-cartridge?) DLC, even though it's free. So yeah, a practice that people find anti-consumer is largely responsible for Pokemon being successful, and why handhelds are still around today.

@SakuraHaruka Yeah the future of gaming being mobile is one that's possible but at the same time very dubious. The Mobile market "leaders"(if you want to call them that) in the last half a decade has been a game of musical chairs.

Currently King("play our "new" game(s)...they're all candy crush clones and bust-a-move clone Bubble witch saga") and Supercell("Play our new game...it's a Clash of the Clan clone, we cancelled our other new game...a match 3 game) ontop show absolutely no innovation or any evidence that they're anything but a flash in a pan.

Rovio is on the down and out because of Angry Birds waning and they've not produced a successful idea since that hasn't included the characters and none of them have been fresh. People are quick to call them(and other mobile devs and even Mojang) the "new Nintendo" but really they'd like a Nintendo that never got over Donkey Kong's success at (Arcade) and couldn't produce anything compelling afterwards.

The top mobile devs/pubs are making bank but not one of them is actually putting out a diverse and unique range of successful games and it's why a mobile future appears pretty bleak.

Told ya! Another one bites the dust!

Too many companies are blinded by the idea of making the big buck with mobile games, but they forget that the mobile games market is already flooded with horrible cheap little games, which have no quality or effort. It is a second "Atari Empire" that waits to break down and crash the entire mobile games market. Konami, however, has a different goal in mind; the work hard to make gambling legal in Japan and making games on smart phones is one way to introduce people to gambling or to teach kids slowly how "fun" gambling is. We saw so many developers go bankrupt during the last years, I really believe that this time it is Konami, that will lose the floor under their feet and vanish just like THQ and Hudson.

But will I cry a tear for them? No, because they wanted this and now they got it. Oh well, time for a new developer to shine.

our games must move from selling things like "items" to selling things like "features."

and that is when it becomes a money grab, not a true video game. (IMHO)

Sigh. I really miss the days when real videogame companies made real videogames for real gamers. Now it's become mostly mega-corporations with videogame divisions making copy-paste, over-hyped sequels to last year's sequels...and now increasingly aimed at people who think an app is an adequate substitute for a console/actual videogame.

I've loved this great hobby since the Atari 2600. Now most of what I fell in love with back then...the genre variety, the creativity, the sheer FUN...has become mostly just fond, bittersweet memories. I guess all good things must eventually come to an end.

@Frank90 Exactly what I was thinking.
Gotta start saving up for Goemon...

"It recently posted encouraging financial results, despite the fact that its interest in the console arena appears to be at an all-time low."

Despite?? It's probably a direct correlation.

@CharlyDunst
Yes and No, Konami, like anothers ones (Sega, Namco, Capcom), they see the mobile games like "quick money", because, as I mentioned, they get more profits in that that in consoles games, you have seen, many AAA games appear, but very few sell it "necessary" to give the company that invested money + the extra to make new games; this causes what has happened, delayed games, canceled games, leaving games with bugs, abuse DLC's and etc, etc, etc; then, as company, which is better: to please the "loyal players" but sometimes those games ending in lost or go where the games will leave millions with little investment and with many potential players (leaving aside whether games are good or bad).

As they develop games, as they are organized, how they attract consumers, the success or failure will be given.

by the way, it is not good to catalog all the games for mobiles as bad.

@CharlyDunst Hudson didn't fall, they were bought by Konami, who then proceeded to do absolutely nothing with them.

That's horrifying. The part that worries me is they are still have MGS, Silent Hill and Castleviania. Those should not be in the hands of such a moronic company.

We can all complain all we want about this, but there are too many stupid people out there OK with in-app purchases.

Core gamers are the minority. We all need to come to term with this.

@XCWarrior This is the truth, and while I'm sure some people will bash me for saying this, Nintendo kinda started the trend of casual gamers being targeted by companies. Nintendo was the first one to show that a casual market existed with the Wii, and their blue ocean strategy was based around getting people who would never normally pick up a joystick or controller to play video games.

The problem is that Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo never capalatized on that market. This gave mobile device makers a chance to swoop in and take the casual audience that NIntendo had discovered with the Wii.

It also did not help that the Wii U's main selling feature, the gamepad was the reverse of what sold the Wiimote. The Wiimote was easy for the general public to grasp without having to touch a controller in the past. The Wii U Gamepad lost that ease of use.

I'm not blaming Nintendo for the shift to mobile gaming, but I do think Nintendo did open the floodgates. At the very least, they were the first to discover a new market that other companies had previously ignored.

@Yorumi Sorry for the long pause there, fathers day around here
Soo, of course i see the loop i made. But i dont think that its entirely wrong either.

You see, what Nintendo delivered so far has not been bad in any way shape or form. They jumped on the DLC bandwagon, yes, something almost universally criticised by now.
But honestly ? I payd roughly 20 bucks and got 50% more Mario Kart out of the deal, not to mention the freebies along the way. The same goes for Hyrule Warriors, Super Luigi U etc.
All of this has been quality offerings so far, pretty much the opposite of what ive seen everywhere else as of late.

Shadow of Mordor comes to mind, which i bought for my GF including the sason pass. The result ? I got ripped off big time with it.
I got a bunch of in game perks and challenges (Hey, its like free roam, just with a timer) for it...oh, and the two short campaigns which were probably cheaper if i had bought them seperately. And thats what i mean by DLC scamming.

And on topic of Day-One DLC, im really on the fence on this one to be honest. You see, most of the time, its obvious that its ripped out of the main game just to be sold seperately. Its even worse if its announced WAY before the game is actually out.

If its just additional fluff, i can very well live with it. Say, if a bunch of challenges, skins or whatnot are offered at release, so be it.
But Story content, extra modes or the stuff MKX pulled off recently, that gives me the shivers.

And again, i dont consider Amiibos DLC, as these figures have far more value then just "that one piece of content in that one game"
Buy Amiibo X now, and in half a year, you may get something out of it in game Y. Yes, they do lock stuff away from you, that is true, but i personally rather buy a figure, have something to put on display, unlock that specific game in that specific game but also have plenty of other goodies in other games too.

Again, i can absolutely see why people might have an issue with this, and its absolutely valid, there is no way to defend it.

So yeah, i went full circle and undermined my own argument. Youre right about that. But youre also right about the fact that i still think, most of the stuff "Nintendo is guilty of" actually IS not as bad like others have done it.

Though granted, that Fire Emblem thing reeks of a last minute idea to grab some extra cash from it, which is rather sad.

So, if i missed anything or created even more logic loops, please bear with me, its 3:30 in the morning over here
Blame Insomnia laugh

@Dr_Lugae
holy crap it's true

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rovio_Entertainment#History

"In December 2014, Mikael Hed laidoff 110 employees after net profits halved in 2013 due to its recent games, Angry Birds Epic and Go!, which have not being that successful as past games.[24] Rovio closed its Tampere studio, moving its operations to Espoo.

Rovio Entertainment suffered from a 73% decrease in profit, earning only €10 million in 2014. Chief executive Pekka Rantala later stated that the decrease is due to the poor sales of the licensed merchandise and the by-products of Angry Birds. He also noted that "the company are unsatisfied over the result of our licensing business".[25]"

@IceClimbers Yeah, that's right.

Thank you Konami. MGS V will be the last game I buy from you.

I do have to wonder if or when the mobile market bottoms out which admittedly might not be for a while are all these companies going to suddenly back pedal onto consoles.at least Nintendo have their own hardware to fall back on.

What a shame! Another company with tons of classic IP sitting around doing poopoop!

@bitleman

It was worth it to scroll through all the rage debates just to see your post

With so many old Konami games that I still have to play, I can't be bothered too much that they won't ne releasing any mew games. Time to hit up eBay for some old Castlevania titles.

Good riddance. MGS V will be the last new Konami-published game I ever buy, anyway.

You can't do the Konami code on a smartphone.

Bye bye Goemon