Metal Gear might be heading to mobile
Konami's CEO says mobile is the future, and adds that his company's "thinking about how to push" Metal Gear onto smart phones...
A few days ago, a financial earnings report revealed that Konami had managed to turn a healthy profit over the past 12 months - despite returns in the console sector dropping by 30 percent over the past three years. The reason? The huge growth of the mobile gaming sector, which has long since leap-frogged the console market in Japan.
As a result, Konami's CEO Hideki Hayakawa has, according to an interview translated at NeoGAF, stated that "mobile is where the future of gaming lies."
Here comes the worrying bit: some of its biggest, most recognizable franchises are likely to go mobile - most notably Metal Gear Solid.
"We hope that our overseas games such as MGSV and Winning Eleven continue to do well," Hayakawa said, "but we are always thinking about how to push our franchises onto mobile there, too."
In the future, it seems that Konami will be following a free-to-play model, since Hayakawa cites the success of a game called Power Pro as an inspiration.
"Our main platform will be mobiles," the CEO continues. "Following the pay-as-you-play model of games like Power Pro and Winning Eleven with additional content, our games must move from selling things like 'items' to selling things like 'features.'"
None of this is to say that Konami is turning its back on console development entirely, or even that once a Metal Gear Solid game appears on a smart phone, its days as a AAA franchise are over.
But Metal Gear's creator Hideo Kojima gone, a much-anticipated title like Silent Hills cancelled, not to mention the exodus of other talent in recent years (including one of Castlevania's leading lights), this does seem like something of a turning point in Konami's history.
We can't blame Konami for following profits, but it's troubling to think that the venerable Metal Gear or Silent Hill franchises might soon be dragged down a free-to-play route. We'll bring you more on this as it develops.
Metal Gear Solid V is out on the Sept. 1.