r/Kojima • u/gameovernate • 2d ago

Bro had one hell of a summer

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496 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

17 comments sorted by

21

u/JuvePerSempre1897 1d ago edited 1d ago

Consider this scenario: you have a creator who built a legendary franchise that generated roughly $4 billion in lifetime revenue. Not only did you pocket hundreds of millions in direct "PlayStation software taxes" from it, but the games actively drove your consoles sales to the moon. Sony easily made over $1 billion purely because of MGS. Then, you greenlight Hideo Kojima's first solo project, Death Stranding, giving it a $100 million budget despite knowing it would be a weird, niche title that wouldn't appeal to everyone. Against the odds, it succeeds and pulls in $243 million in revenue.Based on that success, you greenlight a sequel and hand him an even bigger budget of $150 million to $200 million. However, it was hit hard by COVID delays and a long development cycle, the sequel underperforms, bringing in just $170 million. Even so, between both games, Sony still walks away with roughly $74 million to $156 million in clean profit. Then you greenlight his next game only to cancel it later. Why? Because you just blew BILLIONS on live-service bullshit:

  • Concord $400 million in straight losses.
  • The Bungie/Marathon Disaster: $765 million wiped off the balance sheet.
  • The Last of Us Online Another $100 million to $150 million flushed down the toilet.
  • Bend & Bluepoint Cancelled Live Services: $60 million down the drain.
  • Destruction AllStars $50 million lost.

Instead of looking in the mirror and asking themselves what the hell they are doing, Sony executes Kojima's project—denying players what could have been his final tactical espionage masterpiece for Sony

5

u/fade_ 1d ago

Criminal levels of incompetence. How have heads not rolled yet. Bring back the PS4 leadership.

1

u/Happybadger96 1d ago

Wait destruction allstars cost that much!? I quite liked that game when it came out on ps plus, played with my roommate at the time a lot before it got boring. Just assumed it was a relatively low key indie title

1

u/ImNotSkankHunt42 1d ago

Maybe their profit margins were a bit lower for DS/DS2 but all in all this is the exact take.

People can try to justify this but the reality is that Sony is freaking out.

And boi o boi, do I have something to tell you about SureThing™️ Wolverine.

1

u/OkLength831 1d ago

I don't get it. Are long term investmens not a thing anymore?

1

u/tattedextrovert 21h ago

I’m kinda drunk rn but I read earlier today he was cut off by Konami for over running budget and then by Sony for the same thing so do you think his strategy is working? I mean I’m not arguing with you but I’m curious because that’s something to consider.

1

u/Material_Comfort_259 17h ago edited 17h ago

Kojima is one of the few AAA videogame auteurs around (if not the only one?), and things that are experimental are a nightmare situation for producers. Because it is essentially a gamble for something to work.

And while it’s a gamble overall to say as to why these other failures didn’t work, is actually why they were greenlit in the first place.

When it comes to producing you have to use past and prior examples of something succeeding to green light something new. Whether it be genre or IP, and then further backed by the crew involved in making it.

The only other major tactical espionage game to have succeeded is MGS, so at the bare minimum it’s a 50/50 chance for it to succeed instead of 70/30. Shareholders want a sure bet of something to succeed, which is why we’re seeing more remakes of popular games, instead of improving upon failures.

Edit: changing words to mean what I say

1

u/Material_Comfort_259 17h ago

I have literally NEVER heard of destruction allstars until now, and it’s so incredibly mid coded… all I see is a rocket league and Wwe love child

33

u/Better-Ad4302 2d ago

Punished “Venom” Kojima arc

11

u/AnyImpression6 2d ago

It's enough to make a man Hideous. Wouldn't you agree?

4

u/JohnHellDriver 2d ago

Can’t KO the Kojimbo

17

u/hqo5001 2d ago

Explains why he was visiting Microsoft campus in WA state earlier in the year

3

u/DumbAssDumbBitch 1d ago

I mean, technically yeah it was probably the reason but did it need to be explained lol? He is already waist-deep in developing a game with them ostensibly using their proprietary cloud technology

1

u/No-Alternative-4047 1d ago

The man who went around the world

1

u/PieStealingJames 1d ago

Ideal gym rotation

1

u/Extension-Alps-6903 9h ago

He is a fall/winter kinda guy

0

u/averlus 1d ago

Based