Konami CEO Hideki Hayakawa is now on the record regarding the company’s future thrust into mobile, and how this affects their current and upcoming console games.
Hayakawa says mobile will now be their main platform, which they will be pursuing aggressively. Interestingly, he cites Winning Eleven (known in the West as Pro Evolution Soccer) and baseball series Jikkyo Power Pro (briefly localized for the US as MLB Power Pros) as games that have influenced this shift in direction.
Hayakawa explains that even when gamers buy these on discs, they are motivated to buy extra content. Power Pro (presumably, he is referring to 2013’s Pawapuro Sakusakusesu) is particularly singled out to help push them towards mobile.
This is the core of Hayakawa’s statement, and Konami’s thrust:
Gaming has spread to a number of platforms, but at the end of the day, the platform that is always closest to us, is mobile. Mobile is where the future of gaming lies.
Hayakawa also takes a minute to mention Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain and Pro Evolution Soccer as overseas games. While they hope these games do well, they are already thinking of how to bring these IP to mobile.
Hayakawa says there is no point dividing games into categories due to platforms anymore. Mobile will connect games to the general public.