Konami doesn’t need Metal Gear Solid: record earnings even without great authors

Divorce between Hideo Kojima and Konami inevitably led to the closure of Metal Gear Solid. Except for sensational twists, in fact, one of the most long-lived and well-known franchises of the video game industry seriously risks remaining a real thing of the past. Fans could take it badly and get angry, but analyzing the results of the last fiscal year (from April 2021 to March 2022), perhaps you realize how, perhaps, the Japanese giant does not really need the series created by the Japanese game designer.

As reported by PC Gamer, in fact, in the video game industry Konami had its best year ever. This is not thanks to famous and historical IPs such as Silent Hill or Metal Gear Solid, far from it. The Japanese publisher has managed to reach a net profit of 425 million dollars thanks to some games that the general public is not aware of. One of these is Yu-Gi-Oh Master Duel, released on Steam in January 2022. The free-to-play game was played by 30 million players, who with in-game purchases have certainly driven the Japanese publisher’s earnings. Another big hit was Momtaro Dentetsu, a train station-based board game released only in Japan.

Lately, the public perception is that Konami no longer publishes video games. Analyzing the report, however, one becomes aware of how in reality over the last fiscal year, the Japanese giant has published 18 video games. Among these we find some less known titles and intended only for the Rising Sun, others still destined for a rather small niche, such as that of retrogaming.

Like it or not, Konami without Metal Gear Solid still manages to record big figures. And perhaps, at this point, the return of certain series (like that of Silent Hill) is not quite the first thing that the managers of the Japanese publisher have in mind in the morning when planning the line-up for the future.