Everyone was on Konami's ass when that happened though, albeit not just over the Kojima thing, but them not making games anymore and instead delegating their IP's to pachinko machines.
Death Stranding wasn't my cup of tea, but it sold pretty well as you can find from a simple search. I guess something needs to make Last of Us numbers for such an investment to be worth it for Sony anymore though, which is why it's getting that cash grab remake.
You have no idea what happened during development of both games. Supposedly the development was rough and there was many disagreements between Sony and Kojima.
And it doesn't seem that it sold particularly well.
I'm not surprised Sony said "have a good day" to Kojima.
Now watch Kojima making a game for Xbox (which is happening) with many losing their minds when it's available on gamepass & junk. That's been one of Sony's problems lately: pushing away talent. If ya haven't noticed, folks are even up & rage quitting from Sony either joining another company or making their own independent studio because of Jim Ryan's shenanigans.
If the series was up there with God of War and Spider-Man...why would they tell Kojima to take a hike.
Other reports suggest that it wasn't a good seller...and Sony has been mum about it. Look at Days Gone...a sequel has been kiboshed while a game like Horizons has been approved.
I'm fairly certain that DS' sales (and reception) were actually considered pretty underwhelming considering a) the hype and b) the cost of production. People have short memories and forget that Death Stranding was basically the Cyperpunk of 2020, in regards to hype, but without the gangbuster initial sales.
Over the years my impression of Kojima has gradually become that he's basically the George Lucas of game devs. Has a cult of personality, demands lots of autonomy to "pursue his vision" and has very high concepts for his games that result in a middling execution. MGS makes its money back because it's been coasting off its early 2000s reputation for years but he's probably considered a very high risk developer by most publishers.
I've been saying for years that Kojima should just make the jump to film making. That's obviously his true passion- it always has been - and his last two games have basically been tech demos anyway.
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Reports are also that Sony is now only interested in funding safe blockbuster-type games. Hence the bizarrre Last of Us remake. If the rumors of Kojima wanting to make a horror game as his next game are true, then those would not fit in with Sony's new blockbuster mentality and probably wasn't interested in funding it as horror games that aren't Resident Evil are unlikely to be huge hits.
Yeah, that would make sense. I just find it strange that Kojima is getting the same service from two separate companies. I think Tzeentch has it correct...
And I would wonder if Microsoft jumps at the opportunity to collaborate with Kojima. They have the cash and it would bring a certain amount of prestige to the IP's they will be offering in the next few years...
EDIT: A bit like how Quentin Tarantino Once Upon A Time in Hollywood script attracted a huge bidding war.
Last edited by Smasandian on Apr 12th, 2021 at 07:12 PM
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Not that surprising if Sony & Konami have much in common in harsh methods saving a buck.
That's not going to work long term. It's nice playing a AAA blockbuster once in awhile (when they're good) but there's usually a steady & healthy stream of other games on the table. Sony is basically saying games like Bloodborne & Gravity Rush suck now 'cause they didn't make as much as Last of Us 2 so now everything should be like Last of Us 2. Gamers are gonna hate this (if not already) because henceforth for PS exclusives, choice is pretty much dead.
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Last edited by Nemesis X on Apr 12th, 2021 at 09:07 PM
Could be. Kojima does unconventional games for sure, I personally wasn't able to get into Death Stranding but it was nice to see a game with such high production values have so much weirdness and creativity in it.
MS is the one willing to take chances right now. Courting Kojim would make sense for them since they are trying to be inroads into Japan and make their system more popular there. A kojima game would help with that. And also they are trying to get more exclusives for the Xbox now that it's clear that's what sells systems, and a Kojima game, as you said, would give them some added prestige. Also they have the money to spend. The millions of dollars the game would cost is chump change to them.
I'm not terribly convinced by these rumors either way. Kojima has had a good relationship with Sony for two decades now, hard to imagine it going south just because a weird game didn't sell quite as well as they had hoped.
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Neither is Japan Studio apparently and that wasn't as expensive as Kojima is.
I do believe though Sony missed out on an opportunity here if it's correct. Kojima has talked about wanting to make a horror game and if that is what his next project is, Sony should've jumped on considering what a phenomenon PT was that a lot want to experience again. PS4s with the demo before it got pulled offline were sold for thousands of dollars for pete sake. That's how thirsty people got for it.
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Last edited by Nemesis X on Apr 12th, 2021 at 10:19 PM
TBH, I dislike all three of them to an extent. Sony because of what they're doing in Japan, Konami because Konami, and Kojima because he's obviously a guy that wishes he was a movie director, but gets stuck making games.
In this situation I still feel like siding with Kojima, though.
True, it might be a mistake and I think you have the right thought process.
But...there has been articles suggesting that Death Stranding development process was not smooth sailing and it pissed off a ton of other Sony first party groups. Who knows if this is true or not...but it could be the case Kojima wanted something Sony did not want to give.
Sony might have a good relationship with Kojima but he was always working with Konami and Sony. I wouldn't be surprised if Kojima pissed enough people off because there was no Konami buffer.
Again, just speculating but clearly there is a reason Sony is doing this...and I don't think it's just about Sony's new direction...there has to be something else.
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Other than it being the consequence of letting a moron be your CEO, not really. This guy is causing so much chaos, many fans want this Don Mattrick to get out already.
There has been rumours that MS and Kojima are working on the deal.
I think a Kojima game would do wonders on a subscription service. People might not be willing to buy a Kojima game...but if marketed well through Game Pass, it could do extremely and gain a fair number of new Kojima fans if it only took a download.
Case in point, I did not get Death Stranding because it didn't look interesting but I would 100% download it if it was part of Game Pass.
Series X came yesterday. Been checking out gamepass since then. Amazing service, really. Great value, so many good games.
As to the system itself, it's very good. Think it looks nice so long as it's vertical. Odd shape but not too big. Whisper quiet which is great coming from a PS4 Pro which sounds like a lawn mower when it's gaming. Everything is smooth and fast, and the backwards compatibility is wonderful and makes some Xbox One games look next gen to me (good thing too since there are pretty much no new next gen launch games). Forza Horizon 4, Destiny 2, Gears 5 all look gorgeous and run at a smooth 60 FPS. Some can even run at 120 FPS but my TV doesn't support that.
It's crazy how quiet the Series X. It's really impressive actually.
It's so quiet, watching a 4K movie on disc kind of freaked me out because the drive was so loud.
It's probably my favourite console so far. It just seems really well built.
Though, it has a wierd issue where the blu ray doesn't utilize Dolby Atmos.
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