Konami has been a punching bag for consumers for quite a while, infamous for mishandling iconic properties and, in the past, focusing on casino-style pachinko machines over actual PC or console releases. Over the last few years, the resurgence of Silent Hill, the recent Metal Gear Solid 3 port, and the just-released Castlevania have given the company a second wind.
Konami never pounced on the generative AI trend that has swept through the gaming space, going as far as the current president of Konami, Hideki Hayakawa, stating in a fiscal report that AI won't have a significant long-term impact on the space.
Taking the High Road on AI
Generative AI has been fought for by tech-minded individuals in and out of the gaming industry as a means to lower the barrier of entry to creative fields, a comment often shot down by actual creatives within those spheres. Hayakawa-San does the same, arguing that the actual barriers to entering the industry have already been lowered.
In his words from those fiscal reports, "entry barriers have already been lowered by the advancements of generic game engines and the spread of UGC (user-generated content)." Thanks to the prevalence...
