Yesterday we reported a rumor that Sony is currently busy reconciling Hideo Kojima and his former employer Konami so that the horror project Silent Hills can still be completed.
Some fans now take this as an opportunity to connect to an older rumor: In January, an alleged Konami employee wrote on 4Chan that Sony wanted to acquire the rights to Konami Castlevania, Silent Hill and Metal Gear Solid:
Sony wants to buy Metal Gear, Silent Hill and Castlevania from Konami, with Kojima involved in Metal Gear and Silent Hill, says a new rumor pic.twitter.com/9idDfYpUB7
– Hunter? (@NextGenPlayer) March 15, 2020
Sony supposedly planned that
According to the leak on January 13, 2020, Sony should already have plans for which titles to develop alongside Silent Hills if the brands were successfully purchased:
- Two remakes of Metal Gear Solid 1 and Metal Gear Solid 2, in which Kojima is said to be involved. Both titles are to be released exclusively for Playstation 5.
- A remake of Silent Hill 1, which is to be developed by the creators of the original (Masahiro Ito, Keiichiro Toyama) – also exclusively for Playstation 5.
- A complete Castlevania reboot. The series is supposed to be more like Bloodborne – a dark soul-like. Also exclusive to Playstation 5.
How realistic is the rumor?
Konami is currently doing very well financially, the sales of her games increased by 18 percent in 2019 compared to the previous year. EFootball Pro Evolution Soccer 2020 (including its microtransactions) and various mobile games are currently flushing out most of the money – their Yu-Gi-Oh! Card game Duel Links, which can also be played on Steam, is particularly successful.
So there is currently no urgent reason why Konami would have to sell its valuable and iconic brands to the competition.
However, since Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain, Konami has not developed a large AAA title. Konami apparently is afraid to start an expensive, ambitious project.
The following would therefore be conceivable: Similar to Disney, who currently license Star Wars to EA, Konami could temporarily transfer the rights to its major brands to Sony. So Konami does not have to do the development work itself, but can still make a profit. Should some great games actually emerge from such a business, it would be a win for everyone – Sony, Konami and the players.
