Metal Gear Solid and Silent Hill publisher Konami has denied rumours that it is to shut down its gaming division following an internal restructure of the business that saw it consolidate its production divisions.
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The rumours came following the company announcing the restructure to its investors in a corporate release yesterday that included many personnel changes and organisational restructuring, including the appointment of several production division bosses—ie, those who would be responsible for the gaming sections of their business— in new roles and seemingly dissolving Production Divisions 1, 2 and 3.
However, in a statement to Eurogamer, Konami denied that its video gaming division was at all under threat, saying "The announcement made refers to an internal restructure, with Production Divisions being consolidated. We have not 'shut down' our video gaming division." As Eurogamer's report notes, the role of the 'divisions' was to supervise the production departments who are responsible for game development, and it is these departments that remain in place.
The move is actually hoped to streamline the business, it seems, by removing a layer of management from the process in order to allow the departments to report directly to upper management. Konami hope the restructure will allow them to respond more quickly to market changes as a result. The changes will come into effect from February 1, 2021.
All this being said, there's not much word on what video game things Konami are indeed currently working on, outside of the eSports Pro Evolution Soccer series. It was reported last summer, however, that the publisher was looking for "fresh ideas" from Western developers going forward.
