Konami - or to use its current full name, Konami Holdings Corporation - is looking to change its name to coincide with the company's 50th anniversary.
So long as shareholder's approve of the move, Konami's board of directors has agreed to change the company's name to Konami Group Corporation. Wild, we know. If the move is approved, it is expected to go into effect from July 1st.
The company had this to say regarding the change:
“Since its establishment, the Company has expanded its business as a pioneer in the Japanese entertainment industry and now operates in four business segments: Digital Entertainment, Amusement, Gaming & Systems, and Sports. In marking the Company’s 50th anniversary since its establishment, we will change the trade name so that we, along with its group companies, will continue to take on new challenges and strive for further growth as a sustainable company.”
Konami's head has been on the block with gamers recently, with the company "celebrating" its iconic Castlevania franchise with an NFT auction. Nevertheless, rumours were abound last year that Castlevania, along with Metal Gear Solid and Silent Hill, would be revived and see new entries at some point down the line. While we've yet to see this come to fruition, Konami has been revisiting its legacy franchises with some pretty awesome collections, most recently packaging the GBA Castlevania titles into the Castlevania Advance Collection.
What do you make of Konami's planned name change? Do you think the rumours of its franchises' revival will come to pass? Let us know with a comment.
[source videogameschronicle.com]
Comments 78
I don't care what they call themselves, just do something with Ganbare Goemon
Removed - unconstructive feedback
^ pretty unnecessary comment.
They should just sell off their video game IPs, or spin off another company, the larger brand's vision is just bizarre
How about the name, unnecessary
People and companies that change their name is normally to hide a past wrong or a commercial debt.
An attempt to further itself from being recognized as a gaming company perhaps? Not sure, don't really care much.
Here comes Konami's successor: Hudson Soft.
That’s a big change how will people cope 😂 not really produced anything of note for a long time just sitting on some amazing IPs what a waste
Would be nice to be able to play the Gamecube Twin Snakes Solid 2 and 3 again and on the go. Dream though is a remaster of 4 that game is alongside GTA 4 trapped in that generation virtually ignored and hard to be able to play these days. Id spend full price to get a port of Metal Gear Solid 4 on well anything modern but being able to play it portable would be sweet.
How about Poopnami?
I see Konami is going through a good old midlife crisis.
They're a shadow of their former selves anyway.
I thought they’d go with Ultra Software Corporation, for old times sake.
This will drastically affect the video game industry
Klownami has a nice ring to it.
"Konami actually makes a damn game" would be news. This is not news.
They already got Hudson so why not just called themselves Konami Hudson like all the other company that got married to another company: Square Enix, Tecmo Koei, Bandai Namco, Sega Sammy, SNK Playmore, etc.
They know their company reputation has been in the pooper for years and years now. With a name change, they can get away with not doing any games, period, and rebranding entirely. Metal Gear and Castlevania died years and years ago, don't ask for this new company to bring them back half-assed
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@Magician @PBandSmelly
Did you guys skip the article or something? They're changing from Konami Holdings Corporation to Konami Group Corporation. Essentially no change whatsoever for anything but legal documents.
@Williamfuchs420 I'm surprised MGS4 has not been ported to PS4/PS5, Xbone/XSX or even Switch at this point. I mean I get it was the killer app on the PS3 and there were a couple of cute jokes made in the game about that... but just so odd to have not even given the game a PS4/PC release. I get it is also, 30GB so a Switch release on a cart might not be likely, but it can for sure fit on most SD cards and the Switch is substantially more powerful than a PS3. Seems like such a wasted opportunity to do nothing with MGS4.
I think this is just Konami being Konami as a proper re-release of MGS1-4 seems like a no-brainer on any console for a quick profit. I doubt we will get Twin Snakes because Silicon Knights no longer exist so I doubt they have the source code on hand... but that has never stopped Konami in the past... I say that as I glare at Silent Hill HD Collection.
@Bret
My point still stands on Castlevania and Metal Gear
A shadow of their former selves they may be but it does seem like they're trying to get back into things. We had those 2 games from their new indie range, Skellattack and that other one that's like Dead Cells, I forget the name. They're also hosting an indie convention in the summer. Then there's the rumours of some of their classic IP's being in production. And of course we're getting the Cowabunga Collection.which seems to have everything one could expect from a Turtles collection.
Further evidence mounting that Sony is buying them? Or have we squashed that rumor already?
The Happy Pachinko Childhood Crushing IP Hoarding Entertainment Corporation has a nice ring to it.
Pachinkmi, perfect.
That has to be the the most aggressively pointless name change that ever has happened.
What's wrong with these people? Say what you will about their recent gaming history, Konami is a big name in gaming. You don't change a name with that kind of recognition.
I’d say something like “just give me more Castlevania” but I know there’s more of a chance for Santa Clause spontaneously popping into existence.
Konami should change their name to Electronic Arts or something ! Nah Konami can do no wrong they are giving us that sweet cowabunga collection xxxx
Fauxnami - it conveys the idea of cheap imitation.
If they remaster twin snakes, msg hd collection and MSG4 for Steam, I call them whatever they want
My feedback was constructive. As others have said, this isn’t news we need to hear about.
I'm happy about The Cowabunga Collection, but I'd really like to play Gyruss again. (3 warps to Neptune!) Maybe Hamster can add it to the Arcade Achives line.
Konami as a name really only means something to me because of games they made 25-30 years ago. My son wouldn't have a clue who Konami is.
Konami used to be such a legendary name in this industry. The degree to which they've fallen from grace is almost difficult to comprehend.
@Bret LOL! Did you skip the part where I said, "don't really care much"?
What a whole lot of nothing.
you ask why not, and I ask why
Maybe this new changed name will lead to a new silent hill. /s
Considering they've pretty much sold their gaming cred and company itself to the barely decorated scam genre of gacha games, I'm glad they're rebranding. They don't deserve the name that owns that much good history. I wish Hideo Kojima would turn around and open up a company named Konami right after. After all, they're not using the name anymore.
Was expecting something more dramatic. They've had several legal corporate names.
Konami Industry
Konami Digital Entertainment
Konami Holdings
@badmotorfinger74 But then they'd have to rebrand stuff as Palcom in Europe. And I don't know, make up something stupid for Japan. ... that should be an easy task for them these days.
Oh, how I long for the glory days of Konami! Rise from the ashes, oh titan of legend, and take your place at the table once again. We await your return with wallets at the ready and hearts heavy with the knowledge of what has been lost.
Back in the NES days, Konami was King.
I think the only disappointment I remember was The Adventures of Bayou Billy.
Besides that game, it was awesome game after game after game.
As I think back to my time with the NES, I might have played and enjoyed more Konami games than even Nintendo games.
This stuff isn’t unusual, especially if it’s just for internal and shareholders. I mean… kind of clutching at straws for news stories…? I was expecting something big.
Thought they were finally going to become Konami Kash Machines. Haha. New games coming to casino: Solid Snake Slots and Silent Hill Pachinko.
I'd never buy a game from Konami after all the NFT scams they've been up to, but KGC, I've never heard of them let's see what kinds of games they've got. /s
It will work as good as renaming pro evolution and specializing in pachinko
Yes, that's the squeaky wheel that needed the grease, Konami. Thank you for being open to change.
nintendo should have bought hudson instead of konami, and they should buy konami/hudson now. i dont know how any of that works but nintendo could really make hay out of that catalogue!
The Legendary Konami of old no longer exists unfortunately. Its hard to believe its the same company. Unbelievable when you consider the incredible franchises they refuse to reanimate.
Their new name is gonna be "up up down down left right left right B A select start."
Q : What do you make of Konami's planned name change?
Me : They have ever "changed" their name long time ago.
KONMAI by typo
KONIMA from pirated PS1 games cover in Indonesia
For the next name change I vote for Konami Group Holding Corporation XL Xtreme
They should change it to Pachinko NFT Corp.
How messed up would it be for them to name themselves Kojima Productions? Or Foxhound?
The Konami brand used to really mean something back when they were one of the hobby's top 5 developers. Sadly, they and other Japanese companies like Sega completely lost sight of what made them beloved household names.
For somebody don't know behind the Konami name, Konami was from number 573.
5 = GO in Japanese number but they spelled as KO instead
7 = NA in Japanese number (from NANA)
3 = MI from Katakana letter Mi since it has three strokes that looks like number 3 in Chinese letter.
Konami more like Clownami, Konami sadly lost all it relevance.
@badmotorfinger74 Pretty sure Konami would rather publicly burn down a nursery than acknowledge anything from their gaming past lmfao
I like the bow tie logo, bring that back. And hire somebody to run the video gaming department again, lol
I believe ****onami is available, I say go for it.
Just call them “Kon” because it suits them now with NFTs and how they treat employees as slaves.
@Matty1988 More Goemon would be welcome for damn sure, but to discard the Konami name in general is disappointing, especially for those of us who remember them as the powerhouse they once were.
They should throw away the "Konami" name entirely. Best not to be associated with that company that used to make amazing games.
I remember booting games back in the snes days, that logo meant you were in for some high quality fun
And here I thought it'd be Power Pachinko Co. or something. XD
Well, I give them credit for recognizing franchises of the past at least in compilations. It's still disappointing that nothing new, or much new, is springing up from its historic IP's. Maybe with this name change something good can come from it. And kudos for mentioning Ganbare Goemon. I love that series.
A good name for it might be "Crypto, NFT, and Pachinko Company That Owns and Neglects Many Beloved Intellectual Properties, Inc."
Tell them NO! great name and games like Parodius over the years no need.
Can we get a DDR game on current generation consoles, especially on Nintendo switch.
@Nameless_Shame Don't kill my dreams 😭
They're announcing a 50th anniversary celebration of changing their company's name from "Konami Holdings Corporation" to "Konami Group Corporation".
It's kind of a beautiful metaphor for the last 15 years of Konami, isn't it?
Why would anyone care? It's mot like they're doing anything with the IPs they own. And most of us, certainly, don't play Pachinko, to even realise this name change.
This is totally unnecessary. They've been known as Konami for years. They would be ruining their good name and reputation if they did that. It would be very sad. I kinda think that's dumb to change your name because of your anniversary. You don't see people changing their names because of their wedding anniversaries. They might renew their vows, but not change their names. Geez. SMH.
@Matty1988
I'd love an N64 remaster/ remake on modern consoles.
@Wexter There’s actually a near completed prototype of Twin Snakes that was leaked awhile back. So Konami would just have to use the prototype to help reverse engineer the game’s code. Bluepoint games was able to reverse engineer MGS2 and MGS3 without any source code or prototypes. Because Twin Snakes has a nearly completed prototype available, it should be much easier.
@Bret hahaha!! They must have it’s not a name change really.
@XBontendo They openly invited anyone to make new games from their IP's about six months ago. it was even covered on t his very website.
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