Konami sees big increase in profit with their new direction

It looks like Konami’s new direction is paying off, at least for the company itself. Looking at the latest financial report from January 31st, Eurogamer notes that the business saw a big increase in profit of 70% (the nine months ending 31st December 2016 versus the same period in 2015). This is despite revenue being down 8.5%.

Konami has recently shifted its focus from big budget video games to smaller scale projects such as mobile phone games and the recently announced Bomberman R for Nintendo Switch. The company went through a major restructuring, which, together with Hideo Kojima and other key members leaving, resulted in both the Japanese division of Kojima Productions disbanding and the Los Angeles branch closing altogether, even though this studio was opened just a few years prior.

Metal Gear is mentioned two times in the report: once to mention the Snake Eater pachislot launched in Q3 of 2017, and once to list Metal Gear Survive in their 2017 pipeline.

One can’t help but wonder what the future of big budget games from Konami will hold in light of this. Konami owns some of the most beloved IPs in gaming, including Castlevania, Silent Hill and of course Metal Gear. Although the company itself has assured us there is a future in console games for them, reports like this don’t inspire much confidence, as the decisions they have been making, as lamented by gamers as they are, seem to have struck gold from a business perspective.

Source: Konami financial report, via Eurogamer