Konami used to publish some of the most celebrated video games of all time. From the late 1980s until 2015, they brought us gems in the form of such franchises like Castlevania, Silent Hill, Contra, and Metal Gear Solid. In 2015, the publisher made a huge shift in business priorities by dropping triple-A game development in favor of mobile games and pachinko machines.
This move devastated fans, who still want new entries in their favorite franchises. The memes below show that five years later players are still as desperate as ever for Konami to start making some real games again. If recent rumors are to be believed, a new Silent Hill game will be announced in the summer.
10 The Brutal Truth
It’s not that you don’t have enough love in your heart to satisfy a significant other; Konami just screwed people over so hard. Are they really making more money than when they were making bigger titles? The answer may very well be yes. While gaming is a business at the end of the day, would it kill the publisher to throw fans a bone like a new Metal Gear? We’d settle for a remake at this point.
9 Konami Vs. Capcom
Ten years ago this meme probably would have been reversed. Resident Evil fans were pretty disappointed at the start of the last decade due to the series’ turn towards action.
Now they are sitting at the top of the world while Silent Hill fans are suffering through a drought of games. At the same time, if Resident Evil can get its survival horror grove back, then so can Silent Hill eventually.
8 Brothers In Apathy
Fans of both publishers have grown accustomed to waiting. At least Valve fans know the company is always working on new ideas, they just do not always come out to the public. Valve recently brought back Half-Life after over a decade of silence, but the cruel irony is the VR exclusivity making Half-Life: Alyx hard to access. Konami is only interested in money, but Valve is more interested in breaking technological boundaries. Maybe one day we’ll see an easier to play Half-Life: Alyx.
7 Kojima’s Outdoor Time
This is the image some people have of what it was like to work at Konami in 2015. To be fair, Hideo Kojima works so hard, he probably lives like this when a game is in active development regardless. We’d laugh harder at this meme if it did not have potentially have some truth to it. In 2015, developers described some pretty abysmal treatment over at Konami. Hopefully Hideo Kojima is having a better time in his independent studio, Kojima Productions.
6 A Sound Plan
In the span of a year Konami got fans more excited for the future of Silent Hill by announcing Silent Hills and then dashed their dreams with its cancellation. Hideo Kojima was to collaborate with famed horror director Guillermo del Toro on a title starring Norman Reedus. Silent Hills was not the only victim of the designer’s split from the publisher, Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain also heavily suffered from the publisher’s change in structure.
5 United In Hate
Joy Division warns that love will tear us apart, but they never tell us how hate can be a uniting force for gamers. Konami has just about turned its back on every longtime fan, sparking the ire of millions. We believe in redemption, however, and Konami could certainly turn the ship around and return to its glory days. Maybe Metal Gear could never be the same again without Hideo Kojima, but Silent Hill, Contra, and Castlevania could definitely come back strong.
4 Now This Is Unforgivable
This meme refers to Konami stopping Hideo Kojima from attending the Game Awards the year the Phantom Pain came out. Despite being the game’s director and being responsible for the story, he was not allowed to receive recognition for his work in person. Geoff Keighley made it a point to voice his disappointment with the company at the ceremony. Everything else Konami did feels like bad business decisions, but this move feels like a personal affront.
3 Talk About Missing The Point
It is absolutely bonkers that Konami thought Metal Gear Survive is what fans of the series wanted from the military drama. They turned a stealth-action game into a zombie-survival title.
Even ignoring the radical, unwanted shift in tone, the game is merely okay. The move does not make sense in the slightest from any perspective, and fans were not happy with it. Here’s hoping the franchise makes an honest return sometime in the future.
2 They Seem Happy To Do It
We do not want to sound mean spirited, but it really feels like Konami had a good time ruining some of gamers’ favorite franchises. After all, they did not even let a project like the Phantom Pain end without some notable interference which caused significant chunks of it to remain unfinished. Some people take pleasure in creating things, while others love destroying them. Konami feels like the latter.
1 Is Kojima Really This Vindictive?
Kojima does not feel like a vindictive person, but fans would certainly be hard pressed to suppress their joy if Konami failed. When it comes to Kojima, we are just happy he was able to land on his feet, start a new studio, and eventually release Death Stranding in 2019. The game polarized players and critics, but it is undoubtedly an uncompromised vision from an extremely creative game designer.
