Former Konami President Becomes President of Kojima Productions

[Steven Bogos]

Former Konami President Becomes President of Kojima Productions

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Shinji Hirano, former president of Konami Europe, has joined Hideo Kojima's Kojima Productions as president.

Death Stranding [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/kojima%20productions?os=kojima+productions] is already well underway, and now it looks like it's getting some high-profile talent in the form of Konami Europe's former president: Shinji Hirano.

According to LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/shinji-hirano-12b5973a], Hirano has updated his profile to state he is now the president of Kojima Productions as of November, 2016. Hirano was president of Konami Europe for some time, before suffering a series of demotions that left him as a mere "corporate officer" before leaving the company in March 2016.

Presumably, since Kojima had a high position at Konami he knew and worked with Hirano. The fact that he has given the presidency of his company to him means that he trusts him quite a bit.

Hopefully, it means nothing but good things for the dev!

Source: The Koalition [http://thekoalition.com/2016/former-konami-president-shinji-hirano-becomes-president-at-kojima-productions]

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[CrazyCapnMorgan]

I guess all that needs to happen now is Japan still outlaws gambling for a little while longer, Konami eventually goes bankrupt, all of their employees (read also: prisoners) go on to finding better, healthier employment, the IPs get sold to developers that actually care about the franchises in question and the execs jump off the highest point of their HQ building out of pure shame and disappointment.

Hopefully, Kojima becomes a new Konami and doesn't make the mistakes of the old Konami.

 

[RJ Dalton]

Hopefully, Kojima becomes a new Konami and doesn't make the mistakes of the old Konami.

Ha! No chance Kojima will make the same mistakes as Konami. He's more interested in making his own mistakes. But at least those mistakes are interesting ones, not the boring, horrible corporate mistakes.

 

[Callate]

"What are your qualifications?"

"My tenure at Konami was marked by a long and humiliating string of demotions until I finally walked away."

"You're hired."

"Uh, I was president before those demotions hit, so..."

"Yes, I know. You're hired."

 

[Arnoxthe1]

I'm so hyped for what's to come of Kojima Productions- I mean look at their freaken logo? Is that NOT the coolest logo ever?

I like Crytek's a lot better. It's sleek, professional, and fits the theme of what they do.

Second place is Neversoft.

Raven Software was cool too.

Valve also gets a shout-out for the open-your-eyes and open-your-mind logos they had.

 

[RJ 17]

I guess all that needs to happen now is Japan still outlaws gambling for a little while longer, Konami eventually goes bankrupt, all of their employees (read also: prisoners) go on to finding better, healthier employment, the IPs get sold to developers that actually care about the franchises in question and the execs jump off the highest point of their HQ building out of pure shame and disappointment.

Hopefully, Kojima becomes a new Konami and doesn't make the mistakes of the old Konami.

As much as I would love to see Konami pay for how much they've shit all over the industry and their formerly much-beloved gaming franchises, the sad fact of the matter is that they're much like Sony: gaming isn't their only (or even primary) source of revenue. Even if they shut down their gaming studios and pachinko factories, they'd still have numerous other forms of revenue and be doing just fine.

P.S. FucKonami.

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

I guess all that needs to happen now is Japan still outlaws gambling for a little while longer, Konami eventually goes bankrupt, all of their employees (read also: prisoners) go on to finding better, healthier employment, the IPs get sold to developers that actually care about the franchises in question and the execs jump off the highest point of their HQ building out of pure shame and disappointment.

Hopefully, Kojima becomes a new Konami and doesn't make the mistakes of the old Konami.

As much as I would love to see Konami pay for how much they've shit all over the industry and their formerly much-beloved gaming franchises, the sad fact of the matter is that they're much like Sony: gaming isn't their only (or even primary) source of revenue. Even if they shut down their gaming studios and pachinko factories, they'd still have numerous other forms of revenue and be doing just fine.

P.S. FucKonami.

Kojima fucked himself.

Konami was never a big AAA publisher on the level of EA and Sony when it comes to Video Games in the Xbox 360/PS3 and Xbone/PS4 generation.

Lots of Japanese Publishers lagged behind the likes of Sony and big western publishers during that generation.

And the budget for both The Phantom Pain and Silent Hills must have been to big for Konami.

Hollywood actors and writers? (Kiefer Sutherland, the guy from The Walking Dead, Del Toro?)

Brand new engine (The Fox Engine)

The budget must have been ridiculous.

All I can say is that Konami may not be that unreasonable to cancel Silent Hills.

And Kojima himself is known to be quite the man to work with. Like how he fired a guy for changing a dialoge for the English translation of Metal Gear Solid 1.

 

[Scarim Coral]

I did find it weird why he would hired someone from his former enemy/ company despite having left ages ago. However I read somehow that Shinji Hirano is buddy with Kojima so it's alright.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

I am legitimately aroused by this level of irony. Might as well utilise the moment...

 

[BrawlMan]

"What are your qualifications?"

"My tenure at Konami was marked by a long and humiliating string of demotions until I finally walked away."

"You're hired."

"Uh, I was president before those demotions hit, so..."

"Yes, I know. You're hired."

HA! The cruel irony. Best of luck to Hirano.

Hopefully, Kojima becomes a new Konami and doesn't make the mistakes of the old Konami.

Ha! No chance Kojima will make the same mistakes as Konami. He's more interested in making his own mistakes. But at least those mistakes are interesting ones, not the boring, horrible corporate mistakes.

He/She who fights monsters, shall become one. Let's hope it doesn't come to that.

 

[D3s_ToD3s]

Would you kindly stop calling this an "indipendent studio"? It's havylie backed by Sony and gets main stage time on their events. So it is dependent on fucking sony. Same goes for Helo Game. FFS.

 

[Quellist]

This is hilarious. I hope these guys make some great games together. Kojima is batshit crazy, but the kind of batshit crazy that borders on genius at times, if he hired this guy he must have been doing something right back at Konami.

 

[CaitSeith]

Would you kindly stop calling this an "indipendent studio"? It's havylie backed by Sony and gets main stage time on their events. So it is dependent on fucking sony. Same goes for Helo Game. FFS.

You're right. It's technically a second party studio answering to Sony. But as long as Sony has hands off the creative process, the results are similar to an independent studio with a big budget.