After a spike in speculation, Konami has clarified that it is merely restructuring its production divisions, not shutting down its gaming studios.
Earlier this month, Konami published a fairly innocuous report which touched on some corporate appointments, other personnel changes, and "organizational restructuring." That last bit covers three production divisions that will be dissolved. The report says this decision was made "to respond to the rapid market that surrounds us," but some readers took this to mean that the publisher is outright shuttering three divisions worth of resources, perhaps including its game development arm.
This misunderstanding was presumably fueled by the fact that Konami, once the bustling house of Metal Gear and Silent Hill, has steadily distanced itself from mainstream game development over the past two years or so. Things came to a head this week when the report resurfaced under some dramatic posts, so as Gematsu reports, Konami released a new statement to put the fires out:
"The announcement made refers to an internal restructure, with production divisions being consolidated," Konami said. "We have not shut down our video gaming division."
It's easy to forget, but Konami is active in a range of markets, not all of them gaming. It makes mobile games, card games, and pachinko machines in addition to the blockbuster games it's best known for. This restructuring was likely driven by multiple markets, not just video games, so Metal Gear and Silent Hill fans shouldn't be worried – at least, no more worried than they were two weeks ago. This likely won't affect Konami's approach to mainstream game development in a negative way, but it won't necessarily boost it either.
Konami might not be making more Silent Hill games, but the series' creator has a new horror game in the works.
