Konami is easily one of the most influential video game companies in the history of the industry. In the 1980s,Konamiproduced classics likeCastlevania,Contra, andMetal Gearthat would go on to spawn some of the most well-known video game franchises. Konami is also responsible for the survival-horror seriesSilent Hill, which is second only toResident Evilin the genre. But as the years have gone on, Konami has moved away from traditional video game development, leveraging its beloved IP for gambling and non-video game projects.
Konami’s decline can be traced back to E3 2010, when the company held anotoriously embarrassing E3 press conference. Since then, it has become less interested in pursuing traditional game development, to the point where it seems to hardly release any new products that aren’tPro Evolution SoccerorYu-Gi-Oh. This has left some of Konami’s most popular video game franchises to lay dormant, or worse yet, get new entries that have been met with scathing reviews from fans and critics alike.
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For those wondering what their favorite Konami video game franchises have been up to, here is where they stand in 2019.
Castlevania
Latest Release - Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 (2014)
Rising to prominence at the same time asSuper Mario Bros., theCastlevaniaseries is one of the longest-running video game franchises out there. While there have been some poorly-receivedCastlevaniagames over the years, many have been met with critical acclaim, withKoji Igarashi’sCastlevaniagamesparticularly well-received. Sadly forCastlevaniafans, there hasn’t been a new game in the series since 2014’sLords of Shadow 2(not counting the Japan-only mobile gameCastlevania: Grimoire of Souls), and Igarashi doesn’t even work for Konami any longer.
Konami has continued to produceCastlevaniapachinko machines instead of full-fledged entries in the series. Luckily, theCastlevanianame has lived on thanks to the popularCastlevaniaNetflix seriesand appearances from the characters inSuper Smash Bros.Igarashi, meanwhile, has gone on to developBloodstained: Ritual of the Night, a spiritual successor to theCastlevaniafranchise that looks to be the closest things fans are going to get to a new entry in the series for quite some time.
Contra
Latest Release - Contra: Rogue Corps (2019)
Throughout the 1980s, 90s, and 2000s, Konami released newContragames on a regular basis. Then it launchedHard Corps: Uprising(which, despite its title, is considered a part of theContrafranchise), which was followed by an eight year hiatus. Some may have hoped for that hiatus to continue, however, as the most recentContragame has been raked over the coals. In fact, Game Informer’s Jeff Cork dislikedContra: Rogue Corpsso much that he refused to even finish it for his review:
“I’ve spent about nine hours playing this game, and have no idea how many more stages are left until the end. I do know that levels are recycled only a few levels into the campaign, even to the point of putting the collectibles in identical locations. I don’t see a future in which the back half ofContra: Rogue Corpsmakes up for the abysmal first half. It would be irresponsible to assign a numerical score to something I didn’t complete, but all you need to know is that it’s irredeemably bad. Move along, folks.”
It should be noted that while an actualContravideo game for home consoles wasn’t produced in the eight years betweenHard Corps: UprisingandContra: Rogue Corps, Konami did put out some slot machines based on the franchise.
Metal Gear
Latest Release - Metal Gear Survive (2018)
Konami’sMetal Gearfranchise got its start in the 1980s, but the franchise reached new heights in the 1990s. 1998’sMetal Gear Solidis a bonafide PS1 classic, and a groundbreaking game that was hugely innovative for its time. Subsequent entries in theMetal Gearseries were met with acclaim as well, all the way up toMetal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain, an award-winning open world game from the mind ofMetal Gearcreator Hideo Kojima.
Kojima was easily Konami’s most well-known developer, and he is largely considered to be one of the best in the business. Sadly, Konami apparently didn’t see that much value in Kojima,canceling hisSilent Hillsprojectand refusing to let him travel to the United States to accept an award for his work onMetal Gear Solid 5. Kojima and Konami eventually split ways, but Konami decided to continue theMetal Gearfranchise anyway with the poorly-receivedMetal Gear Survive.
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Metal Gear Survive, chasing the “survival game” trend about five years too late, was met with disdain from critics and fans alike. The fact thatMetal Gear Survivemade people pay for extra save slotswas also ridiculed and controversial at the time.Metal Gear Survivemarks a lowpoint for the series, and no new game has been announced since.
However, Konami has been using theMetal GearIP in other ways. It’s lentMetal Gear Solidcharacters to car commercials, and it’s also used them to create its pachinko machines. TheMetal Gear Solid 3pachinko machinesparked a lot of outrage in particular, as it came about in the midst of the Kojima controversy.
Silent Hill
Latest Release - Silent Hill: Downpour (2012)
Out of all of the franchises that have been effectively abandoned by Konami,Silent Hillmay be the one that leaves the most bitter taste in fans' mouths.Silent Hill 2often appears on the top of lists of best horror games, andSilent Hill 3earned strong reviews as well, but the series went downhill from there.Silent Hill 4, while plenty scary with interesting ideas, simply failed to live up to the legacy of its predecessors. SubsequentSilent Hillgames didn’t live up to expectations either, with the series lagging far behind its chief rival, Capcom’sResident Evilseries.
But in 2014, there was renewed hope for theSilent Hillfranchise. Hideo Kojima released the crypticPT, which was secretly a “Playable Teaser” for the newSilent Hillgame, entitledSilent Hills.Silent Hillswas set to be a joint effort between Hideo Kojima, Norman Reedus, Guillermo del Toro, and manga artist Junji Ito, but it was ultimately canceled. And then to pour salt in the wound,Konami pulledPTfrom the PlayStation Store.
A newSilent Hillvideo game hasn’t been mentioned since then, but Konami has, as one might expect, used the franchise in other ways. In fact, aSilent Hillslot machinewas just announced, and aSilent Hillebook was released just a few years ago. However, there is no indication that a proper newSilent Hillvideo game is in development in any serious capacity. But given how the new games in Konami’s other big franchises turned out, it may be for the best.
Konami has claimed that it’s not done making console games, but its actions have yet to prove that. Maybe Konami can redeem itself in the future, but for now, it seems as though many of its biggest IP will lay dormant…or become slot machines.
