jdnation wrote:I could believe that Kojima wouldn't mind establishing good relations with Konami again. I'm certain not everyone on Konami's board was against him, and in fact it was previous board members and the previous president who encouraged Kojima to build FOX and take on Silent Hill.
Kojima has also been on a 'positivity' streak, and this is all over Death Stranding. He got a lot of help from his connections through Sony and Del Toro, and also with the death of his mum during DS' development that was a factor in him appreciating life, he seems to be very appreciative of what he has, and in interviews he has refused to trash Konami and instead has said he is very grateful to them for the time he's been employed over there. So while I don't believe Kojima wants to work on more Metal Gear games, I'm sure he has no problem burying any hatchets and establishing more peaceful relations again. It is likely that other members of Konami, including old KojiPro staff also feel similarly and would encourage good relations.
As for Konami's gambling initiatives, I believe these have largely stalled, as a result of the entire gambling/slots/pachinko industry trending downwards. Younger people don't care about slot machines and pachinko, because these are seen as past-times for old people. In Japan the demographic problem isn't helping, but the trend is similar in casinos worldwide. The only stuff popular is poker and other more social gambling table games at the wheel, baccarat, blackjack and other things. Konami were possibly also betting on the Japanese government deregulating gambling but that never occurred.
So a tactic to try and get young people interested in slots/pachinko has been to utilize brands young people know - specifically from video games, and thus this is why you'll see Konami trying to use Silent Hill and Metal Gear to make pachislot machines. But it is looking like this has been largely ineffective. As the older generations die out, slots and pachinko will continue to decline.
That said, it doesn't mean that the random slot gambling mechanic has gone away completely or has no appeal to young people. It just has taken a different form in the mobile market with loot box and gatcha games. These are more entertaining, and there is no payout except for in-game items, anime girls, and clothing and bikinis for the anime girls (and guys). So the same gambling mechanics have never gone away and instead of video game brands attracting young people into casinos, instead the casinos are being put into the games. Hence the concerns and attempts at loot box regulation. So Konami is still doing well by applying their gambling tactics to mobile Free to play titles. Low investment, bigger returns. They have not been so successful on the console side.
Konami, however, does have an incentive to get back into traditional console games, and that's precisely to keep those brands alive, so even if the console game doesn't give them the higher returns they want compared to the higher investment, they could still leverage it in other ways where the traditional console game can drive interest in gatcha or other cheaper mobile spin-offs or more pachislot if they're still stubbornly dedicated to this, as well as licensing of other merchandise from toys to shirts to movie/TV deals.
So I could see a scenario where Konami could make a deal with KojiPro, and even co-develop this with Sony. Kojima gets a contract plan to keep his studio going whilst still having creative freedom. Sony gets to publish a PS5 Silent Hill title based on hype. Konami gets to keep the PC sales. If Kojima is also putting some of his money into it he could get a cut of both PS5 and PC. So this three-way investment could make it more agreeable to Konami. And while Kojima takes on the work of the larger mainline title, Konami could outsource another smaller SH title fit for mobile/Switch/PS4/Xbone that spins off that one and makes more money on the side, plus keeps any merchandising rights from the KojiPro title, even if they allow KojiPro to design toys/merch.
It's a win-win-win situation for everybody.
One big factor that might explain why Kojima could opt to do Silent Hills instead of a new horror IP, I feel, could be that he doesn't want the potential of Konami coming to him with a suit claiming that he is using ideas for his new horror IP that he conceived of while working under them, and this is always a sticky issue for creatives. So Kojima would have to reestablish good relations with Konami in any scenario again to get a horror game developed. If it a new IP, he may first have to show them what he's doing, so that Konami's lawyers can clear up and give the okay that he is doing things that don't infringe on anything he conceived while at Konami, which is difficult. So far easier to just have a deal with Konami where they license the SH IP to him, or hire him to create the title for them, and that way everything is kosher.
There was another rumor going around awhile back that also suggested that Kojima was trying to make nice with Konami again, but this wasn't sitting well with Ken Imaizumi, who apparently wants nothing to do with Konami again and this the rumor stated that this was the reason why he might be leaving KojiPro. But this is unconfirmed. I do hope Ken stays as he's always been a long standing member of Kojima's team.
I suspect that there are big things in store for Silent Hill in the future. Or at least something is being worked out. If Sony, Kojima, and Konami can come together, and if Kojima can also bring Del Toro and Junji Ito back on board, then I figure there's going to be a very big campaign for Silent Hill to return in a big way, and not just to games, but with Kojima and Shinkawa even saying they have aspirations to create manga, film and animation, and what Sony may be cooking as their PlayStation Streaming service with not just game-streaming, but also film, anime and episodic content based on game franchises aimed at the gaming audience, we could see the possibility of Del Toro and Kojima producing new Silent Hill short films or TV series and heck maybe even Junji Ito will do a Silent Hill manga.
Especially given what real-time game engines can achieve with next-gen hardware set-ups and high end PCs with raytracing, sets, props, monsters and areas built for games can be re-utilized as assets for live-action, or performance captured CG films, so we'll start to see more multi-media approaches to games, which will bring in more returns on the initial investment, and also drive subscription services with new content, thus there will be a growing convergence of talent that does both film/TV and gaming divisions with shareable digital assets.
Konami is certainly aware of this, and thus there is every incentive to get back together with the man who excelled in the cutscene department of their gaming division, and has contacts in Hollywood and Sony. Especially if they want that Metal Gear Solid movie adaptation green lit. Konami will want to buy back as much consumer good will and hype as possible, because if things take off, it will look very good for their bottom line. Money talks, and that alone is enough incentive even for the guard at Konami who disliked Kojima to work with him again.
And contrary to the false impressions many have over Kojima being some big-budget spender, nothing could be further from the truth. Death Stranding was made very quickly and has a lot of clever asset re-use, it's a very indy mid-tier game disguised by a very impressive quality of polish. And you can bet that neither Reedus nor Mads were costing him anywhere near what they normally get paid for their usual TV/film work. Actors do take on interesting projects for a much lower salary just for a chance to work with some creatives they like or take roles they otherwise normally wouldn't get.
^ Wow. Just wow.
I haven't felt this full of hope since Silent Hills was initially announced.
