Konami joins the fight

 On the wrong side

You know, I was just sitting there and wondering: how is it that every single human trash company aside from EA and Konami have come out with their NFT plans to nakedly fleece their audiences? Activision is in the middle of a slow motion implosion, and are thus too preoccupied to get on the crap train and Rockstar are so busy right now they likely haven't even realised that NFTs exist yet. (Don't tell them) But Konami are enough of a dumpster fire that has proven itself utterly moral-proof over the years, where are it's- ah there they are! Gosh, I was starting to feel naked for a second there without a reason to scoff at Konami's continued existence again. Imagine running out of excuses and having to mentally tolerate the K gang? Disgusting! No, it'll take so much more than a global pandemic serving as the great equaliser, proving to all that we are the just as weak as each other and should trust and respect the fellow man who supports us, to change their view of customers. Konami is the kind of friend that'll gladly take your hand to get back up on his feet just so that he's better positioned to stab you in the back- always stay classy my guys.

That's just how they roll over in Konami; they're a company borne and dedicated to the act of murdering their own goodwill at every single turn in whatever way they can find. So of course the second there was even the glimmer of a whisper of a new platform that the general public just seems to hate, it was only a matter of time before Konami became it's largest cheerleaders. And thus it's with no surprise that I announce Konami's brand new Castlevania-themed NFTs in order to 'celebrate' (Read: Desecrate) it's 35th anniversary.  I'm sure that the original developers of the first Castelvania game sat around and dreamt of a future where mock-ups of their artwork would be used in an officially sanctioned plot to covertly scam consumers into funding a consistent revenue generator for Konami. I bet they're just thrilled with all the ways the series has been burnt and twisted into a blunt instrument of Konami's greed. What a way to celebrate.

Of course, the chunks of digital art here aren't anything even remotely special, and I'm struggling to even find a piece of totally custom art in the whole collection. There's various digital frames with 8-bit scenes from the first game, a cross-section map of Dracula's original Castle (It's a lot smaller than I remembered) and, for some reason, just some promotional art for 2001 DS game, Castlevania: Circle of the Moon. It's... well 'underwhelming' is a bit of a given when we're talking about Konami projects, but this seems almost excessively lazy. Someone just thumbed about their harddrives for some spare marketing assets left in a scrap folder somewhere and slapped a price tag on it. I am 80% sure that is exactly what this NFT sale is, art recycling in it's laziest form. Not to say that I'd be all over these products if Konami did go the extra distance to have something actually new mocked up for digital purchase, but it's the principal of the thing, ya know?

But then why would anyone be discussing a little thing like 'principal' when talking about a company like Konami? Least we all forget- yes I'm going to say it again, the Kojima conundrum. You know, wherein Kojima and Konami broke up due to questionable means only for it turn into a petty match of Konami ripping Kojima's name from the box of every game he'd worked on. Which, given that Kojima loves his name so much he stuck it in Death Stranding no less than 10 times, feels like a personal attack. (I still have MGSV with his name on it, guess that makes it a collectors item) Those are the actions of a studio totally devoid of class, of colleague respect, of the love of the art. In that respect, I wouldn't be surprised if the actual artists who originally contributed to these pieces getting hawked by K corporate aren't even touching a bit of the proceeds. As in, I bet they aren't even getting a one-time sign-off fee for their work being used in a manner totally not predicated in the contracts they worked under. Because why would Konami care about those that worked under them?

And then there's the several allegations of the way that Konami works inside of itself, to the point where it's own employees who haven't yet done a Kojima and personally offended the CEO, suffer from bad conditions. A lot of the stories we've heard, of crunch-time, unfriendly atmosphere and threats of blacklisting, sound more akin to the report one would see for a Japanese black company; the sort of place that tries to wring as much out of it's employees as possible whilst giving the least back, not caring about their health, and ultimately working some people to their deaths. I don't think Konami has landed on that official list, so they're conditions might not be that bad quite yet, but they are certainly heading towards that direction if courses aren't corrected. I don't think anyone would be the least bit surprised if Konami made the cut in the very near future.

Of all the stories that I've covered on the blog, this feels like on that just writes itself so much; because everything you'd expect to happen just plays out to the exact beat of the music. The public have spat right back in the face of Konami, not just in defiance to the way that a beloved franchise is being treated, but in desperate fear of the next franchise that Konami is going to pick apart like a petulant child playing with their dinner snacks. CONTRA already seems like something of a lost cause, but somehow I expect it won't be long before it's my boy Snake on the chopping block. Least we forget the time that Konami relegated Metal Gear to their gambling side of the business with brand new CGI scenes lovingly recreated only to fuel a bloody Pachinko machine! Never forget.

Speaking of Metal Gear- one comment of backlash really highlighted something for me. Incredibly, Konami still hasn't resolved the simple licencing issue that bought down Metal Gear 2 and 3 from online storefronts. You know, the bit of legacy news footage at the head of those games that ran out of contract just last year, apparently that's far beyond the companies capacity to care and react, even though it would take about a week of work depending on how quick the filing goes. This either shows a blatant lack of care from corporate to keep any piece of art not actively generating big figures sales for them, or a vindictive final stab at Kojima for the gall of going of on his own and actually seeing notable success. No well wishes among friends, no 10 year reunions and definitely no secret upcoming collab project between the estranged two like some people have been teasing. (I'll eat my hat if I'm wrong there.)

Unlike what Ubisoft, Square Enix and Konami may insist with clenched fingers around the throats of their franchises and gritted teeth; NFTs are indeed a fad. And it's not a fad because the concept is weak, or the applications lacking, or the publics unexperienced scepticism; it's because of opportunists just like them who are exploiting it again and again. Just like a short sighted dehydrated fool in the desert, stumbling across a well and draining is totally dry on the spot- these companies are doing the most damage to this 'new revolution' than the disdain from the public. Their actions are fuelling the disdain! So when the bubble bursts and everyone who bought into this trend is left holding the bag with low quality assets they can't offload, remember not to blame the community who rejected these marketplaces, but the companies who callously threw them together like income generating mud without a singular care in the world.