KONAMI’S 2011 GOALS Winning ‘11
Having re-booted Castlevania last year, Konami’s challenge for 2011 is to fire up Silent Hill, take the 3DS by storm via Metal Gear Solid, and prove to the world that PES is a football franchise with a bright future, not just an illustrious past. Dave Roberts assesses its chances
KONAMI has a bank of brands that many publishers would envy. At the top of the pile is its famous
five: Metal Gear Solid, Pro Evolution Soccer, Silent Hill, Castlevaniaand Yu-Gi-Oh.
The constant challenge for the publisher is to maximise the return on the gilt-edged portfolio – whilst also keeping them fresh and relevant. PESis probably the best known in the UK, and certainly the only one that gets a run-out on an annual basis. Traditionally, it was seen as the
gamers’ choice in the football field, the critically adored alternative to Electronic Arts’ more commercially successful FIFA. Recently, however, it has been the poor relation by both measurements – partly because EA has improved FIFAexponentially and partly because Konami didn’t improve PES with the same vigour.
THE BEAUTIFUL GAME In an analogy which will
simultaneously please and depress Konami’s Arsenal-supporting UK general manager Pete Stone, rather like the Gunners’ rivalry with Spurs, it was once a close call, with both teams having convincing claims to bragging rights – but then one side became so dominant that ‘rivalry’ became a rather grand and sadly misleading description. Now, though, like Spurs, PESis fighting back. Stone says: “I don’t think there’s a massive gap in terms of the playability. There are certain areas we need to improve and catch up, but it’s not a huge gap – and we’re gradually closing it. “If we can make the necessary changes to the game itself, which is
profitable and successful from our point of view.”
After three years of decline since a high watermark in 2006, Konami claims that sales stabilised last year and, given current market conditions, expects them to stay flat this year – which would still peg it some serious distance between a still growing FIFA. But, as Stone says, measuring the two brands purely in terms of units shifted is a futile exercise. Better to work to its own agenda in terms of sales – and then maybe try to compete head-to-head, like it used to, in terms of quality.
“
what we’ve been doing, then there’s always going to be a market for the game. We may not outsell them, but we can sell enough so that it’s good from our point of view. “Don’t think of it as a battle where
we’re trying to win, or outsell them, because that’s not necessarily the case. We’re trying to sell enough to get to a position where it’s
Konami’s UK general manager Pete Stone is confident PES will have a stronger year in 2011
There isn’t a huge gap between PES and FIFA –and we’re gradually closing it. Pete Stone, Konami
In that respect, the publisher knows that the eyes of the gaming world will be on this year’s iteration. It’s vital that it delivers. Rather like Woody Allen films, you can only pitch so many as a ‘return to form’ before the phrase starts to ring hollow. A look at Metacritic shows that, as with sales, review scores have levelled out recently – high 70s, compared to low 90s in its pomp. But Konami believes the media has yet to catch up with the game’s actual improvements and that it is still suffering from something of a critical hangover brought about by a couple of admittedly shoddy versions released at the start of the current hardware cycle.
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