So, did anybody watch E3 this year?
Yeah, me neither. How a billion-dollar international industry trade show could be so damn boring is beyond me.
But it has at least one up on last year: E3 2015 was the year Konami gave Hideo Kojima the boot — and then the giant middle finger at the 2016 Game Awards — followed by some kind of bizarre self-immolation, stating that they were going to focus on pachinko machines and mobile gaming. This, on the heels of one of the most impressive achievements Konami had in years with Metal Gear Solid V and creating incredible buzz with their Silent Hill demo, left a lot of us more than scratching our heads; it had most of us good and pissed.
But clearly pachinko machines and mobile games aren’t quite the cash cow Konami had thought, in their drunk decision-making finale, as one of their PR guys on Reddit posted last month that the are trying to put their house back in order. He mentioned plans for Metal Gear’s 30th Anniversary, made no secret of the disconnect between their suits and their fans, and he “hopes to earn back” the fans of their long-loved franchises.
So could a new Metal Gear game do it? I mean, sure, you remake the original Metal Gear Solid for next-gen consoles with the Fox Engine, you will certainly gain my interest. But you know what would really help me believe you want my money and my trust back?
Pull your licensing department’s head from their ass and get me some quality Metal Gear product.
Konami’s licensing partners don’t exactly have the nicest things to say about them at this point. One only needs to look at the headache NECA has had over doing Contra to see that one for what it is. But if there could be some attitude adjustment, some extension of that goodwill to partners as well as fans, well, there could be hope.
And Mezco’s Pierre has said on several occasions he would definitely like the opportunity. So that one’s a no-brainer.
In the past, It’s been said that Konami and Kojima weren’t overly impressed with the work turned out by McFarlane toys back at the start of the century. In retrospect I suppose neither company was probably pleasant to work with, but there was still some decent product that came out of it. Supposedly, Konami felt like their action figure line wasn’t the type of quality they’d expected — and maybe in comparison to the Japanese collector market is wasn’t.
You see where I’m going here. You want high-end quality, Konami? This is the place. The MGS universe is practically tailor-made for this line, as I’ve mentioned before. This just makes sense.
And I have mentioned it before. Many times. So why do I bring it up now? Well, I don’t anticipate a high-end 6-inch G.I. Joe line coming our way soon. Current movie licenses and properties are very shy about a military-based line, regardless of its sci-fi or superhero tendencies. When there are better odds of my getting a really good Rick Flag than a Duke, you know we’re in strange territory. And Metal Gear does an excellent job of hitting some of those same notes without having to work with a bloated movie-verse structure or a parent company that seems almost hesitant to even discuss it.
But maybe if Konami is serious about doing right by Metal Gear, even without Kojima, than this would be an excellent opportunity to show it.
