Famed gambling machine manufacturer Konami has occasionally ventured into video games over the years, establishing a number of rather popular franchises such as Metal Gear Solid, Silent Hill, and PES but like with a really silly and long rebranding. Konami’s current game output has been a bit on the skint side, although there is a new game on the horizon that looks rather unique.
Based on the original 1987 Famicom game Getsu Fūma Den, the reveal of GetsuFumaDen: Undying Moon from indie studio GuruGuru was a shock to the system. Seriously, look at this beauty that’s out soon on Steam Early Access and Nintendo Switch next year:
The point here is that Konami has a ton of IPs gathering dust when they’re not being used as themes for slot machines. And Konami has realised this, saying that it is considering doing a little bit more of the ol’ outsourcing. “We are continually inspired by various indie titles, and how they innovate and produce exciting games,” Konami’s GetsuFumaDen: Undying Moon producer Shin Murato said in an interview with JPGames via VGC.
We felt that GetsuFumaDen would be an interesting IP to bring back to follow this indie approach, and so we decided to contact GuruGuru as we know the team well. They had been exploring new approaches for graphical design and thought they would be a great fit for this IP. It also helped that there were fans of the original GetsuFumaDen game within the GuruGuru team. In terms of other collaborations, please wait for future projects like this!
Konami recently pulled out of E3 2021, but there have been reports that the company has more games in development from outside studios. This wouldn’t be the first time that Konami has gone down this path, but there were far more misses than hits. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, the greatest video game of all time, was a stunner developed by action masters Platinum Games for example.
And then you had Contra: Rogue Corps, which made the cardinal sin of putting a cooldown timer on your guns. Guns. Cooling down. In Contra? AURORA BOREALIS? It has been a long time coming, with Konami finally seeing the light after its bosses were staunchely against ideas of outsourcing. Which is a whole other can of worms to unpack, but for now it looks like the company is finally making a plan to get back into video games properly.
Anyway: Greenlight Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance 2 by Platinum Games already!
Last Updated: May 25, 2021
