Konami’s New CEO: Mobile is the Future and Our Main Focus

Hideki Hayakawa 05-14-15-1

It seems like we might have learned the cause of the recent furor over at Konami proper.

Their new CEO, Hideki Hayakawa, recently spoke to Nikkei Trendy (via NeoGAF), in which he said a few bold statements regarding mobile gaming.


“We are going to pursue development of mobile games aggressively,” said Hayakawa. “Our main development platform will be mobile devices. Power Pro and Winning Eleven are examples of the pay-as-you-play model we’re focusing on. Our future games have to move from selling “items” to selling “features.”

He continued to point out their new business model. “We noticed that people who buy physical [retail] games are still motivated to buy extra content. The sales of Power Pro has really motivated us to push more of our popular series into mobile development.”

“While gaming has branched out onto a multitude of platforms, we always feel like mobile is the platform closest to us. Mobile is where the future of gaming really is.”

“We still hope that overseas releases such as MGSV and Winning Eleven do well, but we are still thinking about how to really push our franchises onto mobile, overseas.”

Finally, Hayakawa talked up the role of mobile games in branching the divide between hardcore and casual. “As with multiplatform titles, there’s no point in dividing the market up anymore. Mobiles are going to be the bridge in between the general public, and the gaming world.”

Hayakawa’s statements are following the unfortunate news that Silent Hills, an exciting and promising looking game by Hideo Kojima and Guillermo del Toro, has been mysteriously cancelled.

How do you guys feel about Hayakawa’s statements? Are you concerned about the future of Konami games like Metal Gear Solid, Silent Hills, and so on?

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