Konami quits the AAA business

Having previously talked about their downfall, we’re no strangers to the woes at Konami.

The fact that the Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain PC retail disc contains no game files, and when you consider their insanely priced micro-transactions for that very game and child-like demeanour in general, you quickly get a sense of what’s happening over at Konami.

So, would it shock you to hear that they’ve taken it one step further?

This latest news means that everything is coming to pass as we predicted for Konami. That’s because it’s been revealed that Konami isn’t too happy with how long it took to develop Metal Gear Solid V and the overall development costs.

As a result, the publisher is leaving the triple-A business altogether, as many have now suggested. In fact, the only franchise which has not been halted in regards to development is Pro Evolution Soccer.

Sadly, other Konami-owned franchises may not see the light of day as a result. To make matters worse, Konami’s Worldwide Technology Director, Julien Merceron, has also left the company following Hideo Kojima’s grand exit.

Meceron seemingly left because of the changes at Konami and their movement away from console and PC game development.

With the exceptions of PES 2016 and Metal Gear Online, Konami won’t have any AAA releases next year. Of course, Konami hasn’t officially confirmed this themselves, but sources at Gameblog and Eurogamer have been reporting this very news.

This move has been expected on Konami’s part where their focus has slowly been shifting to mobile development and the exceeding profits they receive from their pachinko machines.

With the shutdown of the Silent Hills reboot, and despite fans being really hyped for the game, Konami really has descended quite far.

What we would like to know is: Should Konami cease triple-A development, will they sell on their licenses or hold onto them?