Topic: How do we show Konami there's still a market for Castlevania?

[Lumi Kløvstad]

The world is in a state of panic atm, companies want guaranteed profit and are only seeing dollar signs.

Unfortunately in a creative, artistic and design driven industry it's very difficult to survive. Small Indie developers are probably safer right now.
But then what, only AAA games and indie? I'd hate to see everything in between leave, that would really polarise the industry for the worse imo. Why? The AAA companies will end up buying the IP's we all knew and loved to be pimped out like shameless whore$. Not good.

I miss B-Class games, which is where Castlevania always found the most fans.

B-class games were those pretty great but not amazing games that tended to hit shelves at half of what the big games were selling but reliably promised a still pretty good all around experience. Maybe the graphics were a little worse or the controls weren't as refined, but the whole thing still felt good to play.

Now, there's Triple-A, Budget, and Indie gaming. We lost a whole product class somewhere halfway through the 2000's and Castlevania and many other franchises have suffered for it.

Good examples of B-class games are the first BloodRayne, Blades of Time, Hunted: The Demon's Forge, SiN Episodes: Emergence (criminally underrated and that series should have had more), WET, and Velvet Assassin. You can definitely tell where costs were cut, but they remain enjoyable.

Castlevania's strengths were found in that zone, I think, and when Konami would try to "go big" with Castlevania and make it a Triple A, disaster usually followed. But they kept trying.

I guess they never had a stern talking to by Vaas Montenegro about the definition of insanity.

[Shiroi Koumori]

Or they won't, and all we'll have are old games and fond memories that steadily turn sour.

So, we are turning into grumpy old curmudgeons shaking our walking sticks at Konami.

[The Puritan]

So, we are turning into grumpy old curmudgeons shaking our walking sticks at Konami.

We've been at this too long. Our hopes are almost as dead as this franchise.

[zangetsu468]

We've been at this too long. Our hopes are almost as dead as this franchise.

True, I only used to hit up CV dungeon for detailed info on the games and never post in forums. Despite the fact CV pretty much is dead I'm shocked at making Master Hunter.

[AlexCalvo]

Even if Konami's current leadership is allergic to money (and their decision-making logic says that they are), their shareholders are NOT. Eventually, the company will lose money to their toxic reputation and shareholders will demand the board step down and be replaced. Then those who remember what Konami used to be will be in a position to make it happen again.

Or they won't, and all we'll have are old games and fond memories that steadily turn sour.

Don't count on this at all.  Konami is not losing money, video games are a small part of their business, and they make much higher profits off of Panchinko, mobile, and their health clubs in Japan.  This is just a gamer's hope, and does not reflect the reality of the situation.

As long the Pachinko machines make money, the Castlevania IP is going nowhere.  The only real hope at this point is if Bloodstained does well enough for konami to copy it, and possibly even license it out to Iga for a game or two.

[Lumi Kløvstad]

Don't count on this at all.  Konami is not losing money, video games are a small part of their business, and they make much higher profits off of Panchinko, mobile, and their health clubs in Japan.  This is just a gamer's hope, and does not reflect the reality of the situation.

As long the Pachinko machines make money, the Castlevania IP is going nowhere.  The only real hope at this point is if Bloodstained does well enough for konami to copy it, and possibly even license it out to Iga for a game or two.

Slow down speedy gonzales.

I said their toxic reputation will damage their profits -- in the sense that now that they have been unmasked as the monsters they are, fewer and fewer people will willingly do business with them. Doesn't matter if they aren't a gaming company. Companies that have well earned reputations for abusing customers and employees tend not to see a whole lot of future customers.

And all that negative press is gonna bite them in the ass unless they change, and they won't change. So it WILL hit them where it hurts. In their wallets.

[AlexCalvo]

Don't count on it.  Business is about making money, love it or hate it, Konami is doing a good job at that, and cutting their sagging gaming department off will only make them do that better, and that is all investors and business partners care about.  I think you are falling down the wishful thinking rabbit hole.

[zangetsu468]

The issue is Konami's main business is the gambling industry, is it not?

Last time I was at the Casino I noticed a lot of Konami machines. This in itself is more than lucrative. Not to mention their pachislot utopia they've built.

Do they really give a fuck about the individual? About preserving a good image with gamers? I'd say they don't, gaming is their less profitable market specifically at the moment. I don't think they'd be batting an eyelid at something that couldn't sell like a Blockbuster.

Do they care about their public image? The whole Kojima fiasco answers that, one of the most revered men in gaming publicly humiliated to the point where crowds were booing at the game awards (thanks to one ballsy journalist who actually reported the news). I was walking into JB Hifi seeing signs above PS4 MGS that read "A game by HIDEO KOJIMA".

Sorry Archer, they don't give a flying fuck.

[Lumi Kløvstad]

There is always the chance that this will explode in their faces in a much bigger way than they anticipate.

Companies of that scale are not immune to company-destroying blunders, and I firmly believe their handling of Hideo Kojima will eventually prove to be the disease that destroys their entire bankable reputation. But like any great disease, it's gonna have to incubate, and they're going to have to let it go untreated.

And, especially given what I've been hearing around the 'net, a REAL explosion also doesn't seem to be out of the question, terrifyingly enough.

Konami has pissed people off enough that jilted former employees who meet every conceivable definition of "way beyond disgruntled" might actually resort to corporate terrorism. Arson is a good bet (as it's a classic way of sending a message to someone you really hate). Konami doesn't yet have any goddamn idea how badly they fucked up, and we might end up seeing them take some more literal losses in the foreseeable future because of it.

Probably not. But time will tell.

People do dangerous things when they feel their lives have already been destroyed by "the man", and this is a company that has produced a fair number of such people. Hideo Kojima stands to win big by his falling out with the company, but the little guys? Not so much.

Former employees going completely postal has a precedent. And people have gone postal for much, much less.

I don't really want it to happen, but it would be difficult to feel that justice hadn't been served if it did.

Assuming it doesn't, we can look forward to more and more employees steadily deciding "fuck your terms and conditions" and high tailing it for wherever the employers don't see themselves as God-Kings.

In my perfect Walgreen's world, they find jobs with Nintendo and Kojima Productions. More than likely, they end up working at bars and the like.

This whole thing is a fucking travesty.

[zangetsu468]

#marxism #itwaswritten

[Lumi Kløvstad]

#marxism #itwaswritten

This is really kind of meant for a different thread, but at the time, Marx was almost 100% dead on the money about how working class folks were abused. His solution sucked, but his initial premise was insanely accurate.

The premise is still plenty true, but the solution he offered still doesn't work.

[JR]

*Insert bullseye pun*

(Sorry, couldn't resist)

Outside of Bloodstained, the only thing that might get Konami's attention is to have a fangame with some hype that would REALLY get them to take notice, like Streets of Rage Remake did with Sega. It almost seems like that game was so well made that it embarrassed Sega into reacting like they did, demanding it be C&D'ed and all.

Even still, Bloodstained looks like our best bet.