Iga leaves Konami

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Castlevania Producer Koji Igarashi Leaves Konami - IGN

I knew Koji Igarashi having a GDC speech this week was a bit too interesting after the hype and critical/sales failure of Lords of Shadow 2.

He's following the footsteps of Inafune and starting his own studio to make games his fans want - something David Cox and Konami don't seem to want anymore.

Hi, by the way.

[Firewind]

Re: Iga leaves Konami

Holy crap where have you been? I've been running out of people are argue with on the forums

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Iga leaves Konami

Holy crap where have you been? I've been running out of people are argue with on the forums

You still have Mal, Cid and J9. Tapatalk spoiled me and this forum doesn't support it.

[cidbahamut]

Re: Iga leaves Konami

You still have Mal, Cid and J9.

I can't tell if you're baiting me or just that phenomenally stupid.

[Malacite]

Re: Iga leaves Konami

Yeah, I probably won't be around for much longer either given my current situation...

Goodbye everything I knew and loved. I thought my life was shit before, now the real Hell begins.

[Firewind]

Re: Iga leaves Konami

To be fair, Mal and Cid know when I'm being deliberately antagonistic to get an amusing reaction.

J9, I'm convinced is simply a pair of those Japanese Cat Ear thingies that you move with your mind that somehow gained sentience, and is slowly taking over and controlling the body of someone on the internet. It's like Nyancat is somehow trying to murder us all with blind optimism, and free marketing for random publishers that don't really give a shit.

I'd also make some really bad SMT IV release date joke but I'm too busy playing Dark Souls II so yeah.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Iga leaves Konami

To be fair, Mal and Cid know when I'm being deliberately antagonistic to get an amusing reaction.

J9, I'm convinced is simply a pair of those Japanese Cat Ear thingies that you move with your mind that somehow gained sentience, and is slowly taking over and controlling the body of someone on the internet. It's like Nyancat is somehow trying to murder us all with blind optimism, and free marketing for random publishers that don't really give a shit.

I'd also make some really bad SMT IV release date joke but I'm too busy playing Dark Souls II so yeah.

Well, that will keep you busy for a bit.

From the reviews I saw so far, I thought to myself "Why couldn't have Castlevania moved in this direction?" DS II seems to have some of its sensibilities.

Then a week later, Iga leaves Konami. Deep down I knew it was coming. Konami is desperate, only values Kojima Productions and doesn't do much else now. They're actually worse than and perhaps worse off than Capcom.

I hope MGSV GZ goes well for them, but I'm worried it won't since Konami basically pushed for a paid demo. We know what happened to Mega Man when that idea was last kicked around. It doesn't strike me as a real choice Kojima made, but a cash grab for a troubled company.

I'm looking forward to hearing Iga's talk, though, and learning what his plans are. He's got a ton of great artists and composers he could recruit and his designs hold up well. I think those that worked on Ecclesia would be a great fit. I was playing that just as the news hit, in fact. Love that one.

[jenova_9]

Re: Iga leaves Konami

Oh mew, it's great you finally play Order of Ecclesia. It's one of the best ones. =^^= Well Castlevania was in bad pudding ever since Konami handed it to Mercurysteem. IGA was doing great things with Castlevania and there could have been that 1999 story that fans were expecting (as well as a Harmony of Despair sequel, the most played Castlevania of all time), but alas the fanbase is too nitpicky about graphics and things and IGAs Castlevanais didn't sell like they should (the portable Castlevanias should have been developed for PS2 and PS3, they would of had more sales like SOTN.)

If MercSteem does a Contra, not sure how that will do, but their "Castlevanias" are terrible. Uprising was really great, though not sure if Arc System Works will do business with Konami again, it really was silly to not give it the Contra title (the lack of Contra in the title affected sales). Uprising is a more pure Contra than Legacy of War, and better level design than Shattered Soldier. (oh yes, I am a mew mew Contra veteran so I know these things. )

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Iga leaves Konami

Oh mew, it's great you finally play Order of Ecclesia. It's one of the best ones. =^^= Well Castlevania was in bad pudding ever since Konami handed it to Mercurysteem. IGA was doing great things with Castlevania and there could have been that 1999 story that fans were expecting (as well as a Harmony of Despair sequel, the most played Castlevania of all time), but alas the fanbase is too nitpicky about graphics and things and IGAs Castlevanais didn't sell like they should (the portable Castlevanias should have been developed for PS2 and PS3, they would of had more sales like SOTN.)

If MercSteem does a Contra, not sure how that will do, but their "Castlevanias" are terrible. Uprising was really great, though not sure if Arc System Works will do business with Konami again, it really was silly to not give it the Contra title (the lack of Contra in the title affected sales). Uprising is a more pure Contra than Legacy of War, and better level design than Shattered Soldier. (oh yes, I am a mew mew Contra veteran so I know these things. )

I've played OoE before.

Harmony of Despair seems to have done decently in terms of sales, but was panned critically. I don't believe it or Judgement were games he really wanted to make, even if HD got him a small award from some PSN awards in Japan. These felt more like pushes from Konami to pander to the console market.

Additionally, I've never seen much evidence to suggest the GBA and DS games would to better on consoles. Metroid: Other M, horrible as it was, sold a million and that's usually good for a Metroid game. Other Metroid games didn't have wank like lengthy cutscenes, "realistic" character models, CG and voice acting to inflate their budgets. That presentation fluff probably damaged Other M's chances at success

Iga's CV games seldom had those things, even the Metroid Prime games didn't make heavy use of them. This likely kept them more viable financially even if they don't sell millions upon millions of copies.

Konami's problem is the suits want AAA money when, as great as the series was, Castlevania was middle tier at best. There's nothing wrong with being middle tier if the games are quality and CV and Metroid still weild great influence from that space regardless. This industry has a thinking disorder, though, and in the small minds of the suits its about going big or going home. They want to gamble and care nothing for their talent or the fans.

The way Konami's going, the only games they'll make are Metal Gear and Love Plus. That they even considered giving Contra the AAA treatment is worrisome. It would "evolve", yes, evolve into an angry, brown duck-and-cover shooter. It would not be like Hard Corp Uprising or anything from the past.

Hideo Kojima and his team are the only real talent Konami has left. But today we have evidence they are willing to short sell that team and their fans with an overpriced Tanker demo.

At least the last time they pulled that stunt, it came with a full game.

[jenova_9]

Re: Iga leaves Konami

Well unlike a MercSteem Contra, The Phantom Pain could redeem MGSV, especially considering it will include the new Metal Gear Online, mew. Unless MGO doesn't meet or surpass MGS4's MGO standards, The Phantom Pain as a whole could be more successful than its predecessors in single player and multiplayer. However that pans outs, it could be interesting what Kojima does with Silent Hill, mew. Well, their strengths was always MGS, so who knows if their talents will tastefully fit in a Silent Hill 9.

MGSV is sure to succeed, and Konami is more likely to support MGS more than Valve has done with Half-Life.

[Feba]

Re: Iga leaves Konami

I hope MGSV GZ goes well for them, but I'm worried it won't since Konami basically pushed for a paid demo.

They did that with MGS2 as well, nobody seemed to mind.


only came here to make fun of a game I actually enjoyed

[Malacite]

Re: Iga leaves Konami

I'm amazed anyone even still gives a rat's ass about Konami.

They haven't done anything really mind blowing in ages. Silent Hill Downpour had a lot of promise in all fairness, but they screwed up in too many areas (largely the combat) and well that whole series has been hanging on by thread since 3. There are hints of a ZoE 3 but who the hell knows at this point (not sure too many people care either. I do, but eh...) and well, CV used to be a quality series but the 2 LoS games have, IMO, thrown out whatever faith was left in franchise. Nobody asked for a shitty, poorly made gothic God of War clone. And now we got was is basically a $30 demo for MGS V, after Kojima said he was done?

Piss off.

[jenova_9]

Re: Iga leaves Konami

The Phantom Pain is going to win back the fans, mew. And the next Contra might become a new trend. It could be better than this:

Uwe Boll Contra Parody - YouTube

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Iga leaves Konami

It seems like a lot of publishers are just bent on abandoning the people who got them where they are now, in terms of talent and audience alike. Then again, that's big corporations for you and why I've come to prefer smaller studios, indies, the private corporation and, yes, the few big ones that still think more like Nintendo.

At the very least, the games I want still regularly happen. I get my Metroidvanias even when they are neither Metroid or Castlevania. Guacamelee, Strider and the next Shantae game are filling that void. There's a new top-down Zelda, Bravely Default is selling as well as Fire Emblem did last year.

Many kinds of games can be successful if you budget them correctly, find the right venue and advertise to that niche directly.

Of course, with Konami, they're the worst in the industry when it comes to marketing. Its pretty much a luxury prison for Hideo Kojima now.

[jenova_9]

Re: Iga leaves Konami

Kojima still has more creative freedom than most developers in the industry. MGS is Konami's cash cow so of course they would approve of just about anything Kojima does with MGS.
The problem is that Kojima is Kojima's worst enemy in design, they could do a lot more, but it remains to be seen if TPP will take advantage of its potential, mew. It seems MGS games can only achieve its greater potential through Metal Gear Online, but even that has not been expanded and cared for as it should. Perhaps now they can do more with it and raise the standards.