Former Square Enix Boss Calls Konami's Treatment of Hideo Kojima "Cruel"

Lizzy Finnegan

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Former Square Enix Boss Calls Konami's Treatment of Hideo Kojima "Cruel"

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"Going out of your way to make enemies with the world has no meaning."

Yoichi Wada, former President and Representative Director of Square Enix [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/122907-Square-Enix-Forecasts-Massive-Loss-As-President-Departs], has shared his thoughts regarding Konami's "cruel treatment" of Hideo Kojima, as well as what he considers to be bad business practices.

"As I know Mr. Kojima, I want to say, 'I can't believe this cruel treatment!' But, here I'm going to give my thoughts as a corporate exec," Wada Kotaku [https://www.facebook.com/yoichiwada528/posts/949344935120260]). "However you think about this, this is a negative for business. Maybe leaving the home console market is management's plan, but going out of your way to make enemies with the world has no meaning."

"Generally, this kind of thing happens when there's a lack of leadership," he continued. "I think, perhaps, there isn't someone in charge who is paying attention and laying out all the little details for whole enterprise."

"When you are not aware that the feelings of your own department aren't aligned with the world at large, the results can be deplorable."

Earlier this month at the 2015 Game Awards, host Geoff Keighley stating [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/165299-Hideo-Kojima-Banned-From-Accepting-at-2015-Game-Awards-by-Konami] that Kojima was "on vacation."

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Barbas

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A comically stupid and deplorable company. The sword of my grandfather is in their dog.
 

Neurotic Void Melody

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I don't get why game's journalists that want to be seen as professional journalists, don't take the initiative to explore further into these more troubling issues. Like assert themselves by going into these companies and/or finding employees willing to anonymously (or not) divulge secrets. Whistleblowers, undercover information gathering. Come on! This is the perfect opportunity!! :D
 

Samtemdo8_v1legacy

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Is the whole Gambling sector of their industry really making them more money because their revenue and income is lowering in the red judging from Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konami
 

RJ 17

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"Generally, this kind of thing happens when there's a lack of leadership," he continued. "I think, perhaps, there isn't someone in charge who is paying attention and laying out all the little details for whole enterprise."
This pretty much sums up what I've been thinking about this all along: Konami is showing a severe lack in leadership. Indeed, as the Squeenix guy points out: if you want to get out of the home console market then that's fine and dandy...but you don't have to completely self destruct and make the world hate you in the process.

Samtemdo8 said:
Is the whole Gambling sector of their industry really making them more money because their revenue and income is lowering in the red judging from Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konami
My understanding is that Konami has numerous different branches, gambling and gaming is just a couple of them. Apparently they also sell appliances and other stuff as well.

That said: considering their rather outlandish behavior recently, I wouldn't be surprised if their over-all numbers have taken a hit due to it.
 

Samtemdo8_v1legacy

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RJ 17 said:
"Generally, this kind of thing happens when there's a lack of leadership," he continued. "I think, perhaps, there isn't someone in charge who is paying attention and laying out all the little details for whole enterprise."
This pretty much sums up what I've been thinking about this all along: Konami is showing a severe lack in leadership. Indeed, as the Squeenix guy points out: if you want to get out of the home console market then that's fine and dandy...but you don't have to completely self destruct and make the world hate you in the process.

Samtemdo8 said:
Is the whole Gambling sector of their industry really making them more money because their revenue and income is lowering in the red judging from Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konami
My understanding is that Konami has numerous different branches, gambling and gaming is just a couple of them. Apparently they also sell appliances and other stuff as well.

That said: considering their rather outlandish behavior recently, I wouldn't be surprised if their over-all numbers have taken a hit due to it.
You know before all this, before Konami cancelled Silent Hills and fired Kojima and all of a sudden going Mobile and Gambling only.

Konami was barely on anyones mind. I remember the time people were still obssessing over Capcom's on disc DLC and Resident Evil 6. (Crapcom was a bit too harsh) then Nintendo for their anti-youtube stance.

Personally I doubt Silent Hills would have been that great. Because it has the burden of living up to PT. And for all we know it would have been just your standard Silent Hill fare. Same old survival horror game. But what made PT so special was because of that unique repeating hallway and it gets more and more fucked up as you go along. If the real game was just exploring the town gathering weapons, ammo, and items then people will feel dissipointed.
 

RJ 17

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Samtemdo8 said:
Personally I doubt Silent Hills would have been that great. Because it has the burden of living up to PT. And for all we know it would have been just your standard Silent Hill fare. Same old survival horror game. But what made PT so special was because of that unique repeating hallway and it gets more and more fucked up as you go along. If the real game was just exploring the town gathering weapons, ammo, and items then people will feel dissipointed.
What had everyone so pumped for Silent Hills was the all-star team that was making it:

Hideo Kojima - known for his writing.
Guillermo del Toro - known for his directing.
Junji Ito - known for his mind-bending horror imagery.

Those three pooling their talents could - at least in theory - come up with an amazing story with amazing execution filled with amazingly creepy things.

Of course you could be right, just because it's those three doesn't automatically mean the game was going to be the best horror game of all time. But if you were going to try and make the best horror game of all time, having those three at the helm would be a damn good start.
 

ShakerSilver

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He's probably right about Konami leaving the console game making business being a reason for letting go of Kojima, seeing as Kojima's always about playing with the best technologies so he wouldn't be too thrilled about working on a more limited and closed hardware platform. Of course the way they went about doing this was completely deplorable.
Xsjadoblayde said:
I don't get why game's journalists that wan't to be seen as professional journalists, don't take the initiative to explore further into these more troubling issues. Like assert themselves by going into these companies and/or finding employees willing to anonymously (or not) divulge secrets. Whistleblowers, undercover information gathering. Come on! This is the perfect opportunity!! :D
Because they don't want to sour their relations with the publishers for the service of their audience. Unless it's to spoil the reveal of a title in development for some easy clicks. They already get information handed to them in press-releases and conferences so no need to step on the publishers toes by giving us the information the shifty corporations didn't want to have revealed. Much more safe for an outlet to be complacent than to be investigative when everyone else is playing along with what publishers want.
 

CaitSeith

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Because Konami is Konami, and Konami is the worst...

It reminds me the story of the development of L.A. Noire, where the company left out of the credits all who left the project because of the bad working conditions.
 

CaitSeith

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ShakerSilver said:
He's probably right about Konami leaving the console game making business being a reason for letting go of Kojima, seeing as Kojima's always about playing with the best technologies so he wouldn't be too thrilled about working on a more limited and closed hardware platform. Of course the way they went about doing this was completely deplorable.
Xsjadoblayde said:
I don't get why game's journalists that wan't to be seen as professional journalists, don't take the initiative to explore further into these more troubling issues. Like assert themselves by going into these companies and/or finding employees willing to anonymously (or not) divulge secrets. Whistleblowers, undercover information gathering. Come on! This is the perfect opportunity!! :D
Because they don't want to sour their relations with the publishers for the service of their audience. Unless it's to spoil the reveal of a title in development for some easy clicks. They already get information handed to them in press-releases and conferences so no need to step on the publishers toes by giving us the information the shifty corporations didn't want to have revealed. Much more safe for an outlet to be complacent than to be investigative when everyone else is playing along with what publishers want.
And yet, when Kotaku's relationship with Bethesda and Ubisoft got soured because they revealed something the publishers didn't want to be revealed, people didn't care. Some even congratulated the publishers for punishing those click-baiters...

EDIT: I just found the comments in the white font. Was it intended as a joke? Because I still find hand to grasp how the reveal of a title in real development is tackier when it doesn't come from the publishers PR.
 

Karadalis

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You know you fucked up when another big biz japanese manager calls you out on your shit... sheesh.

CaitSeith said:
And yet, when Kotaku's relationship with Bethesda and Ubisoft got soured because they revealed something the publishers didn't want to be revealed, people didn't care. Some even congratulated the publishers for punishing those click-baiters...
Yeah because buying a stolen script for the first 10 minutes of fallout 4 is such a journalistic hottopic and a scandalous reveal?

They fucked up bethesdas reveal, we all knew that fallout 4 would happen, it was a no brainer. Kotaku revealed nothing but their lust for clicks. Had they actually uncovered anything of journalistic worth people would have defended them. But this? This was kotaku cutting off its nose for a VERY short term cashgrab.
 

Samtemdo8_v1legacy

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RJ 17 said:
Samtemdo8 said:
Personally I doubt Silent Hills would have been that great. Because it has the burden of living up to PT. And for all we know it would have been just your standard Silent Hill fare. Same old survival horror game. But what made PT so special was because of that unique repeating hallway and it gets more and more fucked up as you go along. If the real game was just exploring the town gathering weapons, ammo, and items then people will feel dissipointed.
What had everyone so pumped for Silent Hills was the all-star team that was making it:

Hideo Kojima - known for his writing.
Guillermo del Toro - known for his directing.
Junji Ito - known for his mind-bending horror imagery.

Those three pooling their talents could - at least in theory - come up with an amazing story with amazing execution filled with amazingly creepy things.

Of course you could be right, just because it's those three doesn't automatically mean the game was going to be the best horror game of all time. But if you were going to try and make the best horror game of all time, having those three at the helm would be a damn good start.
Silent Hill Downpour never gets enough credit. That game to me was a return to form. And I played the first 3 games.
 

Fox12

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Karadalis said:
You know you fucked up when another big biz japanese manager calls you out on your shit... sheesh.
You know you fucked up when that Japanese manager fucked up himself, and he still thinks you're a fuck up : /

He makes a really interesting point, though. I think everyone just assumed that their CEO was evil. And he probably is. But a big part of the mistreatment people are facing may be a simple lack of communication and organization.
 

Samtemdo8_v1legacy

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Fox12 said:
Karadalis said:
You know you fucked up when another big biz japanese manager calls you out on your shit... sheesh.
You know you fucked up when that Japanese manager fucked up himself, and he still thinks you're a fuck up : /

He makes a really interesting point, though. I think everyone just assumed that their CEO was evil. And he probably is. But a big part of the mistreatment people are facing may be a simple lack of communication and organization.
Yeah this is coming from the CEO to ruined Final Fantasy 12's development that made its director abandoned ship because of the psycholigical trauma of AAA development. And this guy added Vaan and Penelo and changed up the story and gameplay. (Faction quests have been replaced by the hunt quests)

Its a miracle that Final Fantasy 12 is still a great game in my eyes the best Final Fantasy game.
 

CaitSeith

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Karadalis said:
You know you fucked up when another big biz japanese manager calls you out on your shit... sheesh.

CaitSeith said:
And yet, when Kotaku's relationship with Bethesda and Ubisoft got soured because they revealed something the publishers didn't want to be revealed, people didn't care. Some even congratulated the publishers for punishing those click-baiters...
Yeah because buying a stolen script for the first 10 minutes of fallout 4 is such a journalistic hottopic and a scandalous reveal?

They fucked up bethesdas reveal, we all knew that fallout 4 would happen, it was a no brainer. Kotaku revealed nothing but their lust for clicks. Had they actually uncovered anything of journalistic worth people would have defended them. But this? This was kotaku cutting off its nose for a VERY short term cashgrab.
Aren't you forgetting Ubisoft? I still find hand to grasp how the reveal of a title in real development is tackier when it doesn't come from the publishers' PR (specially now that publishers just show less and less reasons to be trustworthy). Kotaku's article may not have been relevant or even desired; but at least it wasn't mere game advertisement, prefabricated by the publishers to just be regurgitated by the "journalists".
 

anthony87

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Xsjadoblayde said:
I don't get why game's journalists that wan't to be seen as professional journalists, don't take the initiative to explore further into these more troubling issues. Like assert themselves by going into these companies and/or finding employees willing to anonymously (or not) divulge secrets. Whistleblowers, undercover information gathering. Come on! This is the perfect opportunity!! :D
You mean like that whole Star Citizen thing? Because that turned out so well.

I'm still waiting to hear more about this apparent lawsuit.
 

Li Mu

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Xsjadoblayde said:
I don't get why game's journalists that wan't to be seen as professional journalists, don't take the initiative to explore further into these more troubling issues. Like assert themselves by going into these companies and/or finding employees willing to anonymously (or not) divulge secrets. Whistleblowers, undercover information gathering. Come on! This is the perfect opportunity!! :D

I know! I can't believe that the escapist doesn't have a special team on the ground in Tokyo. The fact that Lizzy hasn't even bothered to become fluent in Japanese is deplorable. Shoddy work indeed.
But lets look at reality. Most news outlets simply buy their news from Reuters or other agencies. There are very few reporters (even in the news business) who actually do what you're suggesting. It just doesn't really happen anymore. Journalists are expected to write up news stories in a day or two and then move onto the next thing.


Anyway, it sounds like Konami have decided to beat their cash-cow and throw it out of the farm. It's like firing all the COD devs and then sitting in the corner and sulking. Not a great business strategy.
 

The Enquirer

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anthony87 said:
Xsjadoblayde said:
I don't get why game's journalists that wan't to be seen as professional journalists, don't take the initiative to explore further into these more troubling issues. Like assert themselves by going into these companies and/or finding employees willing to anonymously (or not) divulge secrets. Whistleblowers, undercover information gathering. Come on! This is the perfect opportunity!! :D
You mean like that whole Star Citizen thing? Because that turned out so well.

I'm still waiting to hear more about this apparent lawsuit.
Yea I was wondering what ever happened with that lawsuit CR was so adamant of following through on for like a whole day. I couldn't dig anything up.

OT: Yea, he definitely makes quite a few points. It'll be interesting to see what Kojima does when he can work and talk about all this.
 

Fappy

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Xsjadoblayde said:
I don't get why game's journalists that wan't to be seen as professional journalists, don't take the initiative to explore further into these more troubling issues. Like assert themselves by going into these companies and/or finding employees willing to anonymously (or not) divulge secrets. Whistleblowers, undercover information gathering. Come on! This is the perfect opportunity!! :D
Investigative journalism costs money. Most game news outlets don't have the funds to pursue actual investigations. Not only that, but investigating corporations typically involves an employee or business partner breaching an NDA, which is not something most people would risk doing. Unless you're accessing publicly available documents (such as those provided by legal authorities during criminal investigations, shareholder meeting minutes/other documentation from a publicly traded company or government audits) you're not going to get much info to work with. Even when they can find something, I imagine it's rarely anything gamers would care to read about. Usually just numbers.