In a pair of reports from French site Gameblog, they say that Konami Worldwide Technology Director Julilen Merceron left the company, while Konami themselves have ceased all AAA game production on consoles, save for Pro Evolution Soccer. Other sites such as Eurogamer have since corroborated the reports.
For Merceron, who oversaw the Fox Engine, the report says he grew unhappy with Konami’s shift from console development to mobile. As the publisher previously said though, “PES is safe.”
Looking at the report of Konami exiting all AAA console game development save for PES, Gameblog says (through Google Translate), “All current console projects have been stopped or canceled by the new management. To the point that it is now clear that except a miracle and a change of mindset, no ambitious game console will come out of at Konami before the fiscal year 2017/2018.”
While it isn’t a new game per se, Konami is finalizing Metal Gear Online for console launch on October 6.
Furthermore, Gameblog’s sources say the new Metal Gear game announced back in March isn’t actually happening and the company never hired for the project.
“No new Metal Gear is actually being prepared at any level whatsoever,” Gameblog says through Google Translate. “Not even in pre-production, or in the planning stage. Nothing. It was only against a fire-marketing.”
[Source: Gameblog (1), (2) via Eurogamer]
