Konami Backs Human Developers as Layoffs and Strong Shooters Collide

The new element is a statement from Konami Digital Entertainment president Hideki Hayakawa in the company's latest integrated report, spotted by Dengeki Online and translated by Automaton. Hayakawa rejects the widespread belief that generative AI will make game development much easier, noting that entry barriers have already fallen thanks to general-purpose game engines and user-generated content. He allows that AI may improve production efficiency, but says people and creators remain the most important factors in making entertaining, innovative games.

Rock Paper Shotgun's Oisin Kuhnke, who has been dismayed by AI adoption across the industry, welcomes this as a rare bit of common sense from an executive. Kuhnke notes that Hayakawa describes the "chemical reaction" among developers from different backgrounds as not easily replaced, and that Konami says it will support creators in assessing the risks of new technology. Kuhnke treats the stance as a priority for real people rather than a promise, acknowledging the company's tune could change.

CounterpointAdvocates of generative AI tooling would argue that efficiency gains matter most to studios under cost pressure, and that an investor-facing report that stops short of ruling AI out says little about what Konami will actually do.

Previously: A developer cancelled a demo over AI-clone fears, and Faliszek mocked Epic's vibe-coded launcher. — Saturday October 17 edition.

Polygon's Giovanni Colantonio says the year began badly for the genre, with Highguard's launch and near-immediate delaunch and heavy scrutiny of Marathon raising doubts about live-service shooters. He argues those fears proved overblown. In his account, Gears of War: E-Day, Housemarque's Saros, Splatoon Raiders and Capcom's Pragmata were hits with critics or players, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is positioned as another strong release for Xbox.

Indies and live-service veterans feature too. Wardogs is a Steam hit despite mixed reviews, Overwatch and Arc Raiders have found momentum through updates, and Colantonio cites Mouse: P.I. for Hire, Sprawl Zero, Don't Stop, Girlypop! and Boltgun 2 among others. He balances this against the human cost: layoffs at the teams behind Halo: Campaign Evolved and Doom: The Dark Ages' Revelations DLC, and Kwalee dismissing the whole Luna Abyss team weeks after launch. He concludes that the industry should do everything it can to keep the talent behind these games.

CounterpointBusiness-minded analysts would say critical praise and a long list of games are not proof of health, pointing to erratic sales, Marathon's struggle to build a player base, and the very layoffs Colantonio lists.

Polygon's Oli Welsh uses the first hands-on previews of next month's Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake to argue that Nintendo's spending shows its priorities. He starts with comments from Nintendo Latin America's Bill van Zyll on physical media, which gained attention because Sony will end production of physical PlayStation games from 2028. Welsh notes that Nintendo still puts full first-party games on cartridges despite memory chip costs, while third parties lean on key cards.

He applies the same reading to the remake. Polygon's Michael McWhertor found it "snappy, streamlined, and polished," and Welsh says previewers noted how responsive it is, a correction to the original's 20 frames per second. Unlike the Grezzo-built Ocarina of Time 3D and the 2019 Link's Awakening remake, he says this one appears to come from an internal Nintendo team. Welsh concedes publishers use remakes to pad schedules for cynical reasons, but concludes Nintendo is protecting its legacy and brand reputation.

CounterpointCritics of the remake trend would say it still comes at the expense of new ideas, and that these are previews rather than final reviews, so claims of a meaningfully better game remain unproven.

Polygon's Rebecca Corgan revisits the 2021 deckbuilding horror game from Daniel Mullins Games, published by Devolver Digital, and its blood-sacrifice system. Players begin by sacrificing a free supply of squirrels, then are pushed toward costlier trades, such as pulling out a tooth with pliers, as the scale tips against them. Corgan describes hesitating for about three seconds before the first sacrifice, and she says the game shows how little convincing it takes to make someone complicit in horror.

She notes that Polygon named it the best game of 2021 and that it won the BAFTA for Game Design, but argues the awards are not its real legacy. She also points to later acts that change the game's form, including a pixel-art adventure and a factory with floppy-disk cards, and to its pull toward real websites and GPS coordinates. Her conclusion is that she would gladly sit back down at the Act 1 table, which she finds the most unsettling thing about it.

CounterpointA player who values Inscryption chiefly as a deckbuilder and puzzle game might say that reading it as a study in complicity overstates a trade that is, mechanically, only cards.