Update 1/26/2021: Yesterday, Konami stated they were in the middle of restructuring the company, and during so they would be eliminating three departments. However, many took this that Konami was getting out of the gaming business. Today, the company provided a defined update to IGN, explaining what exactly is happening and the status of the company going forth.
Speaking to IGN, Konami explained the difference between the soon-to-be dissolved Divisions, and the company’s remaining Production Departments: “The divisions supervised the Production Departments, which develops the games [sic].”
With that supervisory aspect now removed, the hope is seemingly that the company will be able to make games more efficiently: “The Production Departments will report directly to upper management, allowing them to respond quickly to the market,” explains the spokesperson.
With that said, it looks like the removal of these divisions would be a benefit to the company going forth. Instead of there being a “middleman,” the decision working on the games would report directly to management without the possibility of any mix-up or confusion. Or that’s at least what we’re understanding. We’ll have to wait and see how exactly this affects Konami and its ability to develop games.
That all said, I’d love if this means we’ll finally see Konami either revisiting its past catalog of games or creating brand new IPs. Konami used to be one of the big names in the game industry, but the company has been absent over the past three gaming generations. Sure, they still crank out arcade games and the occasion console game such as Pro Evolution Soccer, but that’s pretty much it. In 2019 they released several anniversary collections and Contra: Rogue Corps, which didn’t perform well.
We can only hope this means we’ll see more output from the company that gave us Metal Gear, Contra, Castlevania, and Silent Hill.
Long-time gaming developer Konami announced that as of February 1, they would be shuttering all three of their production divisions to undergo a massive restructuring of the company. Konami’s reason is to respond to the rapid market that surrounds it.
The internal restructure will see four current employees from their divisional branches transfer to their global branch. They have also appointed Hideki Hayakawa as COO, Koji Kobayashi as an Executive Officer, and Shoji Dewa as a Senior Executive Officer.
The news comes after 51 years of operation (2021 being their 52nd year). The company had produced games such as Castlevania, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Contra, Metal Gear Solid, Silent Hill, etc. They were also responsible for the most popular cheat code in history… Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start… also known as The Konami Code.
Konami released a statement that also assures that the company’s dissolving refers to an internal restructure. You can view the graphic below:
