Reports are coming out from Nikkei about what corporate life is like at Konami, and it is not pretty.
The report dives into the fact that Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain development costs have ballooned to a whopping $80 million US (10 billion Yen). With these sort of costs, it is no wonder the Konami management are trying to move away from this sort of development.
Nikkei alleged that life at Konami had changed starting in 2010. With the mobile market in Japan booming, Konami released a game called Dragon Collection and it was a smash hit for the publisher. With a rather low upfront investment and a large return, the console market started to look less and less valuable for the company. The bosses at Konami made a move to dive more into the social games market and to leave the large console market behind.
The more odd part of the report is how the company is treating the employees that are remaining at the publisher. Some of the issues relate to the way it is treating people of the former Kojima productions. Allegedly the studio has been renamed Number 8 Production Department. Beyond that, the report goes into details on how the staff are not allowed outside internet access and have all communications restricted.
Nikkei also reports that anyone that leaves the office have their movements monitored with cards and anyone who is out of the office too long will have their names announced throughout the company.
Give Kotaku a read for the full outline of the report.
