Konami has been slowly reviving the Metal Gear series in recent years, after the departure of series creator Hideo Kojima saw it go on a five year hiatus (eight years, if you discount the much-maligned Metal Gear Survive). 2023 brought the Master Collection Vol. 1, which launched with a few issues but is now an excellent package, but last year was the real acid test: the release of Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, a full-on remake of perhaps the most beloved game in the series.
Delta delivered. Maybe it was a little too faithful at points, maybe there’s still that slight hesitance within Konami to really let its creatives loose, but it showed beyond doubt that the studio is still capable of delivering a great Metal Gear game (here’s our review). And per a sales breakdown on Konami’s corporate website, the audience is clearly still out there for a bit of Snake.
Konami’s numbers have some other surprising successes. eFootball, the series formerly known as Pro Evolution Soccer, has now been downloaded by an astonishing 950 million players, a figure that does include mobile but… almost a billion copies? We’re all out here thinking that EA Sports FC rules the roost, and perception-wise it certainly does, but that figure alone justifies Konami’s decision to rebrand and relaunch my beloved PES.
Other big hits include Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Links with 150 million downloads, the kawaii baseball sim Pawafuru Puroyakyu (Power Pros in the west), which has sold 26.3 million copies, Momotaro Dentetsu with 19.9 million copies, and good old Silent Hill which chips in with 14 million copies sold.
Konami also offers up some fluff about how it will “continue to take on challenges of the latest innovation by utilizing new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), fifth/sixth generation mobile communications (5G/6G), cloud technology, WEB3, NFT, and VR/AR.”
Look Konami: just crack on with Metal Gear Solid: The Master Collection Vol. 2, there’s a good studio. At least you know it’ll sell a few copies.
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