Run Kojima, run!
Growing up, Konami was one of my favorite companies in the world. Now, it’s a shell of its former self. But according to a report by the Japanese newspaper Nikkei, it’s even worse off than we could possibly imagine.
The report is walled behind a pay portal, but sites like Gematsu, PepsimanGB, and Kotaku have done a decent takedown of it. In summation, the corporate culture sounds pretty scary, as internet access is cut down at Kojima productions (now Number 8 Production Department), and only internal messaging is enabled. If you’re late coming back from lunch, you are publicly shamed, and cameras in nearly every hallway constantly monitor employees.
Evidently staff don’t even have real email addresses outside of PR, and email addresses are randomly changed at different intervals. The worst part though? If you’re deemed “useless,” you’re reassigned to work like security or cleaning staff — this includes “big producers,” and incidents like these have already been confirmed in the past to lead many workers into a state of depression.
One damning bit involves the fact that after an employee mentioned leaving, Konami monitored everyone who “liked” his status, and reassigned those individuals. And that shift to mobile games? That happened all the way back in 2010.
We’ve reached out to Konami for comment, but don’t expect to hear anything back. If true, this is some pretty horrific stuff.
コナミ、ほころび始めた「上月王国」 [Nikkei]
