According to the report Konami began to undermine its own console development around about 2010, when the cheap-to-make mobile game Dragon Collection became a major hit in Japan.
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Metal Gear Solid V is coming next month, bringing to a close Hideo Kojima’s convoluted, but excellent tactical espionage series about robots and hiding in cardboard boxes.
You might think we are talking about lower grade employees but in fact there are game developers in there who for the lack of work sometimes been assigned to such duties! Not long after, the report says, Konami’s corporate bosses shifted the company’s focus away from traditional, hardcore games and towards cheaper, and potentially more lucrative social titles.
As reported by the article, Metal Gear Solid V has cost the company in the region of $80 Million United States dollars to develop since April.
Nikkei reports that employees leaving the company offices during their lunch break are having their absences monitored with time cards.
It also makes the remarkable allegation that cameras have been installed throughout Konami’s offices that are designed simply to monitor the movements of staff. Bizarrely, email addresses used to communicate with the world outside of Konami are regularly changed and randomised.
As for the company being a disgusting place to work, James translates that employees are berated, and those that are deemed “useless” by management are made to do things like “assemblyline work, security guard detail, cleanup at fitness clubs”. A while back, one Konami employee told me this was done to prevent headhunting. Development of a new Suikoden game has reportedly been cancelled and prominent staff, such as the creator of hit Japanese game Love Plus and respected European producer Dave Cox, have recently left the company.
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And apparently one worker who announced their plans to leave Konami on Facebook started to have their internal post monitored, and all those who had “liked” the post were reshuffled into other roles. Tune in every morning from 4am to 8am.
