Like any billion dollar industry spanning the globe and featuring larger than life personalities, the gaming industry is no stranger to controversy. There have been times this year where a developer would have to clean up after its self following a terrible product launch or weather the storm of negative criticism following an announcement or campaign gone wrong. Suffice to say that we’re still not past the “every game could be buggy at launch” mind-set. But when there are controversies that threaten the past, present and future of the industry we thought we loved so deeply, there’s simply nothing to be done but to look on with anger, sadness, rage and/or confusion. Let’s look at our nominees for the biggest controversy of the year.
Nominees:
- Hideo Kojima Reportedly Fired From Konami
- Batman Arkham Knight’s Buggy PC Launch
- Payday 2 Microtransactions
- Star Wars Battlefront – No Single Player Campaign
- Shenmue 3 Kickstarter Drama
Winner: Hideo Kojima, Konami and Everything in Between
When the news first surfaced of Hideo Kojima, the legendary designer behind the Metal Gear series and at the time co-director for Silent Hills, being fired from Konami, it was met with disbelief. The man who helped put the Japanese publisher on the global map was being let go after decades of service? It was impossible to grasp. However, the entire year has been like a controversial puzzle that still continues to unravel.
From removing Kojima’s name off boxes of Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain to denying rumours of his being firing; from the cancellation of Silent Hills to reports of Konami being an awful place to work at; from content being cut in The Phantom Pain to Konami slowly backing out of AAA games development, there was seemingly nothing about this controversy to indicate that it would wrap up soon. Even now with Hideo Kojima forming (or re-forming) Kojima Productions as an independent studio and tying up with Sony, we’re still curious as to what twists and turns the story could take next. The moral is pretty straightforward though – nothing lasts forever.
Note: GamingBolt’s Game of the Year categories, nominations and awards are selected via an internal nomination, voting and debate process. You can check the rest of categories and the respective winners here.
