It has been a few years since the Kojima-Konami controversy happened, but besides lamenting the fact that the already low chances of ever getting a third Zone of the Enders game were effectively squashed, we never really discussed the merits of what went down. I've seen the controversy start to reappear with the release of Metal Gear Survive, and just yesterday the
first vinyl edition of Policenauts (I'm actually in the process of importing Policenauts so I can play it using the Junker HQ patch) was announced.
When the controversy happened, I decided that I would not give Konami any money, ever again. I guess that makes me part of the "FUCKONAMI" crowd, but I think I'm justified in feeling this way.
To begin with, I do not believe that Kojima is a flawless guy. I do not think he has released a truly "great" game since Subsistence in 2006 (which was a terrific package at the time), and although I have also maintained for years that I wanted Kojima to make something besides Metal Gear, I still contend that, if we have to have Metal Gear Solid games being produced, that Peace Walker was the ideal way to do it, and I had a lot of fun with Ground Zeroes with it's very intense and loaded story. Additionally, despite the hate that Guns of the Patriots gets these days, I still have a soft spot for it. Phantom Pain was my least favorite. Although I do not hate the game (in fact I believe it has some fantastic and fun stealth gameplay, and I appreciate how open ended the world was), I did not like the lack of emphasis on story, I did not enjoy what story we got, and I thought the story missions were mostly irrelevant and boring. Even besides this, I think Kojima deserves criticism for the way his studio treated David Hayter. On top of that, Kojima apparently has a tense relationship with Jeremy Blaustein, the translator of the first Metal Gear Solid. I loved the English localization of the game, but
apparently Kojima was unhappy with it and Blaustein never worked on the series again (although I feel like Blaustein has
changed his
tone over time)
On the other hand, I have seen many people on forums downplay and
criticize Kojima, unjustifiably in my opinion, to make the point that Kojima was not the reason that Metal Gear was excellent for so long, that
Jeremy Blaustein saved the first Metal Gear Solid, or that
Tomokazu Fukushima was really the genius behind the games through Snake Eater. and his departure
was the reason for the decline after Snake Eater. Without being an actual part of the development team, nobody can say for sure who had more influence than who. What's clear is that all of the games were a team effort, and I've made it a point to appreciate as many of the team members as I can, but (and judging off of the way Kojima is talked about on the old KP Report) it is a team led by Kojima, who is an auteur. It is his vision, with everyone on the team contributing to it. There are members of his core team that stayed from Policenauts all the way through Guns of the Patriots and longer.
Point is, that while I do not think that Kojima is flawless, I do think he is a master of story telling, detail, and fun gameplay and supported by a fantastic team - I picked up Sons of Liberty a couple months before Snake Eater was originally released and my opinion has never changed. I have always been a fan of Hideo Kojima.
Second, I never fault a company for making business decisions. I am a graduate student in economics, analyzing how production decisions effect the cost structure of companies is a major part of what I do. Phantom Pain cost
80 million dollars to develop and Guns of the Patriots was
estimated to be between 50 - 70 million dollars. Metal Gear games have always been expensive to produce. Konami's public financial statements are
pretty easy to come by. Konami is invested in much more than
just video games, including operating health clubs and gambling products. According to their income statement from 2015, between March 31, 2014 and and March 31, 2015 Konami's revenues increased by only 0.3%, but revenues in its Digital Entertainment business segment declined by 7% - whereas its Gaming & Systems and Pachislot & Pachinko Machines segments increased by 7% and 153.8% respectively. During the fiscal year ending on March 31, 2014, Digital Entertainment only accounted for about 48% of Konami's total revenues, and the following year that portion declined to 44%. On top of this, Metal Gear is not even Konami's most profitable video game franchise; that would be its Winning Eleven/Pro Evolution Soccer games, which it continues to make yearly.
Konami has an obligation to its shareholders to make the most profit as it possibly can. If Konami executives believe that big Kojima games are not worth the expense (or a more general move out of console gaming) and that it would be more profitable for them to expand into Pachi, I may find that sad, but it is not something to fault Konami on. If that disagreement is what results in Kojima leaving the company, again I may find that to be sad outcome, but I do not fault Konami for this.
However, what I do believe is worth boycotting Konami over is their
public and private treatment of Hideo Kojima and his staff. What is clear is that someone inside Konami had a vendetta against Hideo Kojima and showed it very openly. This began in March 2015 with Konami's organizational restructuring and the removal of Kojima as a Konami executive, the removal of "Kojima Productions" and "A Hideo Kojima Game" from the Metal Gear website and promotional materials for Phantom Pain, Ground Zeroes, and the Legacy Collection, and the renaming of Kojima Productions Los Angeles to Konami Los Angeles Studio. Following this,
Konami reportedly restricted access to internet, emails, and phone calls for KP staff, and it was further reported that they were now working as contractors and not permanent employees. In April, Konami removed P.T. from the PlayStation store completely and cancelled Silent Hills. In July, "A Hideo Kojima Game" was finally removed from Phantom Pain's box art. In August,
Kotaku reported on a profile from Nikkei that indicated that employee movements were being monitored by camera, staff members reassigned to menial jobs, employees who left the offices during lunch breaks had their absences monitored with time cards and had their names announced throughout the company if they stayed out too long, among other things. This report also corroborated that KP staffers had no internet access and could only communicate internally. Following the release of Phantom Pain, Konami closed the Los Angeles based studio.
In December, Konami barred Hideo Kojima from accepting awards at the Game Awards for Phantom Pain. (
and he rightfully did get honored the following year). In June 2017 Konami sent Kojima a letter
accusing him of sullying Konami. Konami also discouraged other companies from hiring its former employees, and told former employees that they can not list Konami as a previous employer.
I think as time has gone on, people forget the sting from this. It was very difficult to be a fan in 2015. This went way beyond a business decision; for Konami to treat this man with such disrespect is a travesty and they should be publicly begging for his forgiveness. I am not going to reward and facilitate this behavior, and I feel strongly enough about this so that I will not be giving Konami any more of my money, I will not be buying any new Konami products. This includes Metal Gear Survive and Zone of the Enders: The Second Runner Mars - and this is not based on the merits of either game.
These products, or future products, may very well be good games. But, I believe that in an economy, you vote with your dollars - if you do not support a company for a reason, then do not buy its products. If enough people do the same, the company will feel it. If not, at least I did not contribute to and reward these dishonorable actions.
I think there's also a disconnect between the people who like Survive and people arguing against it. Particularly with
F!NG3RS, who is extremely pretentious when talking about this. He is claiming people dislike it because it's not typical a Metal Gear, but is a Metal Gear in the same way Acid or Rising are, and that people just do not understand it is a non cannon spin off, and he continues on to argue that game not having "Solid" in the title justifies it. He also says the other side is just whining and does not look good doing it. I think there has been a
shift in the
opposite direction in
certain parts of the
community, where
continuing to
boycott Konami is being equated to being a fanboy who wants Kojima to make more Metal Gear Solid (I have never seen anyone actually say this, but
I've seen many people accusing the opposing side of it). These people are not addressing the central point over whether supporting a company that treats its long time staff and fans like garbage is worth supporting. F!NG3RS is purposely mischaracterizing people who are opposing Survive and is not addressing the argument over supporting Konami, I can't respect that.