The profile goes more in-depth beyond the public feud Konami is having with Hideo Kojima to focus on how the employees are being treated. The biggest problems are the company’s lack of trust in its staff along and public shaming and driving off talented employees.
The report uncovered that there are cameras in the office corridors set up to monitor the movements of the staff while those who take long lunch breaks are publicly shamed. It was also noted that the company has been demoting developers to meager roles if they are deemed useless or if they cheered for a company defector.
The gaming media attempted to stay objective toward the findings but headlines like “Konami Is Treating Its Staff Like Prisoners” for Kotaku along with “WTF is going on at Konami right now?” from Mashable clearly demonstrated the writers’ shock. Some even compared the work culture of Konami to a dictatorship or an Orwellian society.
Paul Tassi of Forbes.com didn’t hold back any outrage in his article when he stated: “The controversy painted a picture of an unstable and even vindictive company, and now a new report from Japan’s Nikkei dives headfirst into a corporate culture that seems almost too soul-crushing to be believed.”
For many longtime Konami fans, the report added fuel to flames of anger that have already been burning since the dispute with Kojima became public. Gamers are lashing out against Konami on social media while many have already expressed their desire to cancel their pre-ordered copy of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.
The original article from Nikkei is only in Japanese but it has been translated by Thomas James, a freelance translator known for his work in the gaming industry.
