Konami is Shutting Down All AAA Console Production Outside of PES – Report

Despite strong sales for Metal Gear Solid V across the world, Konami’s place as a developer of games stands on fragile ground in 2015. In the wake of The Phantom Pain‘s success, reports say that Konami has halted/cancelled all console projects of theirs outside of its Pro Evolution Soccer annual series.

After Gameblog noted the rumor of Konami hunting for talent to continue the Metal Gear Solid series without Kojima was fake, their sources reported Konami won’t be developing AAA consoles games besides PES in the near future. The report, backed by Eurogamer, also notes that Metal Gear, or any other “Ambitious” console games made by Konami, won’t see a console release in 2016 and on.

The French-to-English translation of Gameblog’s report reads this:

“No new Metal Gear is in fact in preparation, at any level whatsoever. Not even in pre-production, or still at the draft stage. Nothing. It was only a marketing backfire. Several sources have also confirmed that no recruitment has been actually undertaken following the announcement of the month of March 2015. On the contrary, the direction of Konami would leave for several months by Kojima Productions team disintegrate…

Apart from PES, no more project AAA in preparation worse, put aside the Winning Eleven/PES series, no AAA game is currently in pre-production at Konami. All of the current console projects have been arrested or cancelled by the new leadership. To the point that it is now obvious that aside from a miracle and a change of mindset, no ambitious console game cannot come out from Konami before fiscal year 2017/2018. “

As the report tells, pre-production consoles games besides Pro Evolution Soccer don’t exist. The near-finished state of Metal Gear Online doesn’t count, and Konami expects to release it October 6th. While fiscal years may vary from company to company, the typical fiscal year is April to March of next year. That said, the sources claim you should not expect to see console games from Konami before March of 2017.

The rest of Konami’s 2015

• Konami’s Technology Director and Fox Engine Overseer Has Quit
• Konami Will Now Be Focusing on Mobile Gaming as Its “Main Platform”
• Konami Sounds Like the Worst Place to Work At Right Now
• Konami to Close Down 31 Japanese Mobile Games in September