Back in the day, Konami was one of the prime sources of great games for console, starting from the older Nintendo Entertainments System and getting better as we progressed to the PlayStation era. But the entry of smartphones into the gaming world and the rising popularity of casual gaming came as a rude awakening to game developers out there. The volume of mobile devices out there made sure that the gaming industry had to take notice. This is where Konami is right now, admitting that mobile is the way to go.
The ubiquity of mobile portents bad things for console gaming as a whole, and should mean that Konami favorites like Contra, Gradius, Castlevania, Metal Gear Solid, and Silent Hill will slowly be the stuff of old stories until they get swallowed up by oblivion. Konami has made the decision this week that rather than join their classic products and be forgotten, they will have to shift focus to mobile phone apps as the company’s “main platform.”
“We hope that our overseas games such as Metal Gear Solid V and Winning Eleven (Pro Evolution Soccer) continue to do well, but we are always thinking about how to push our franchises onto mobile as well,” new Konami President Hideki Hayakawa said. “With multiplatform games, there’s really no point in dividing the market into categories anymore. Mobile will take on the new role of linking the general public to the gaming world.”
The restructuring bug that hit the gaming industry is not just with Konami, old companies like SEGA are also following suit. That’s evidence of how much the smartphone has changed the world. Other old gaming developers will most likely soon follow suit.
VIA: Ars Technica
You forgot to mention Nintendo, too.