Konami is back in the news in a big way at the moment, announcing record profits in May despite an absence of larger profiled releases for the core audience. Meanwhile, they’ve recently revealed that they will be announcing a new game at the upcoming Tokyo Game Show (TGS) 2022. Unsurprisingly, this leads people to jump to the Konami big three IP–Castlevania, Silent Hill, and Metal Gear–each of which has had rumors swirling around them in recent years. The reality of the situation however may be different again as it seems some work may be going into the Suikoden franchise, with Konami potentially reviving the dormant IP… if recent trademark renewals are anything to go by, that is.
Of course, all of this could be Konami simply doing its due diligence and maintaining trademarks, lest they lapse and another company swoops in to pick at the remains. The filing, lodged several months ago but only discovered now thanks to the increased focus on Konami activities leading into TGS, is the standard fare in a host of ways but fuels a fire that the company may be on the very of reviving the IP which has been lost to the world since it’s last release in 2006.
Perhaps with this piece of information alone at hand, you could easily dismiss the trademark as being representative of nothing more than standard business practice, but when you add the following piece of context, things get a bit more interesting. Konami announced that its TGS reveal is to be hosted by voice actor Yuji Kaji, the voice of Jowy in Suikoden 2 and Suikoden Tierkreis. “Voice actor Yuji Kaji will be invited as a guest to represent the fans of a series which is loved all over the world, on the announcement stage for a new Konami title,” the listing for the upcoming event states.
Reports of growing Konami activities have themselves grown in number over the last 18 months, with the publisher announcing that it would partner with Layers Of Fears, Blair Witch, and The Medium developer Bloober Team on what is rumored to be a new Silent Hill project, while the rumor mill continues to churn around the fates of Castlevania and Metal Gear Solid, the latter now having been sitting quietly on the shelf years after the ugly fallout between the publisher and franchise lead Hideo Kojima.
Suikoden in the meantime began on the PS1 in 1995 in Japan before launching in the US and Europe in 1996 and 1997 respectively. Suikoden II, arguably the franchise’s high point, launched in 1998, 1999, and 2000 for all three regions but Suikoden III was exclusive to both Japan and the US in 2002. Eventually, PAL regions would get a chance to play the game when it was re-released on the PlayStation Network in 2015. Two other core Suikoden titles, Suikoden IV, and Suikoden V came to the PS2 generation with the final game launching in 2006. Former Suikoden developers have left the company and gone on to create the Suikoden-inspired, Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, and Eiyuden Chronicle Rising, the former still in active development, the latter releasing earlier this year.
