Konami Criticized for Promoting a Terrible and Unhappy Workplace

A major Japanese newspaper claims that Konami is making its employees work in unfair conditions, where you can go from developer to janitor in a single day.

According to Kotaku, Nikkei ran a feature that focused on Konami's depressing workplace conditions and the poor treatment of its employees. Konami is already under the microscope and being criticized for its treatment of Hideo Kojima, having erased the famous tagline of "A Hideo Kojima Game" from all of his Metal Gear Solid games and dissolving his in-house studio, Kojima Productions as all signs are pointing to him leaving the company by the end of the year. A possible factor for Kojima leaving is due to the disagreements over the costs of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, which has run up to $80 million. Supposedly, Kojima's last delay of the game led into his fallout with the company.

Konami's offices are reportedly monitoring employee lunch breaks, but those who are gone for too long get their names announced throughout the company for the sake of embarassment.  Any game developers who aren't being useful get reassigned to positions as security guards, janitorial services or pachinko slot machine technicians. After one employee announced they were leaving Konami on Facebook, any current staff members who liked the post were all relocated to lesser jobs within the company.

In related news, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain has had its PC release date changed to match the console versions' launch on Sept. 1. Steam pre-orders will get a free copy of Ground Zeroes. Unfortunately, Metal Gear Online, which was won't open until Oct. 6 for consoles, has been delayed on PC until 2016.

"We initially did not think it would be possible to get such an epic game out onto PC in time for launch alongside its console counterparts, but all involved have worked diligently to meet the demands of our PC consumers," said president of Konami Digital Entertainment Tomotada Tashiro (via Destructoid). "Now PC users will be able to explore the vibrant and beautifully-realised locations and set-pieces that elevate The Phantom Pain beyond all other action titles. We feel confident that Steam users will be satisfied with the contents we will provide for the Steam version."

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