Konami’s Gaming Division Will Remain Intact Amid Internal Restructuring

Update: According to a Eurogamer report, the corporate consolidation taking effect on February 1 at Konami will not affect its gaming division. A company spokesperson insisted that despite the company restructuring internally, Konami's video game division will remain intact.

"The announcement made refers to an internal restructure, with Production Divisions being consolidated," a spokesperson said. "We have not 'shut down' our video gaming division."

The production divisions, which oversaw the production departments responsible for game development, have been folded into Konami. As a result, these production departments will report directly to management, instead of going through the intermediary production divisions. This change should help the company respond to market changes, according to Konami.

Original Story: Konami has announced a corporate restructure that will consolidate many of the company's internal departments on February 1. According to an official translation of the announcement, this means that the company's three "production divisions" will be dissolved, though its "production departments" remain unchanged.

According to financial professionals, this is a move that will have an unclear impact on the company's gaming operations. Analyst Daniel Ahmad suggests that this restructure is similar to the one that Konami undertook in 2015, and that the company is not "shutting down" their gaming operations, as fans have often accused it of doing in recent years. Others noted that companies like Sega and Square Enix have gone through similar restructures in the past.

While it's true that Konami doesn't release that many games these days, it still owns some of the most beloved franchises in the world, including Metal Gear and Castlevania. For context, the last major Castlevania game was Lords of Shadow 2, which came out in 2014. Metal Gear has fared a bit better, with 2018's Metal Gear Survive releasing without longtime director Hideo Kojima at the helm. Kojima left the company years ago due to a dispute over the production of Metal Gear Solid V.

As with previous Konami announcements, this caused Twitter to buzz with hope for a new Silent Hill game, though there's no indication that one is in development. Konami denied rumors of a reboot last year. The company said they want to produce more "Western-developed" games last summer.