Why I’m boycotting Konami

I’m fully aware that this could be seen as a controversial post to some. The views held in this article are my views and may not represent those of Gaming Respawn or its associated staff. I’m not sure what I’m leaving myself open to with the comments I’m about to make, but I will have my say and whatever transpires as a consequence will transpire.

You might have seen me post elsewhere on the site about how I’m currently boycotting Konami. I know some people are a bit miffed with this and have asked why I’ve not extended a similar boycott to companies like EA and Ubisoft.

The honest answer is that I personally feel Konami is worse than everyone else, hence why they have become the only video games company I have ever consciously boycotted.

The reasons for this are as follows. I first started getting leery of Konami back in 2012 when they blacklisted both Jim Sterling and also Destructoid in quick succession. This was because Sterling had raised legitimate and fair criticism of Konami on his show The Jimquisition. Konami however decided to act like petulant children and threw all their toys out of the pram in a sickening example of a big corporation trying to quash free speech.

This raised my ire, but not enough for me to stop spending any money on Konami. However, Konami then decided to take P.T. down from digital cyberspace and went about trying to cull P.T. videos online. They did this basically because they could. They weren’t losing any money as P.T. was a free download. They were essentially hoarding the content for no other reason seemingly than just to wind people up. Again, my ire was raised but I wasn’t prepared to fully boycott, neither was I when they removed Hideo Kojima’s name from Metal Gear Solid V.

What made me turn the corner and finally decide to just stop giving this odious corporate machine any more of my money was when damning reports of the way staff were being treated came to light.

To quote a certain sailor with unnaturally large forearms, I had stoodst all I could standst and I could standst no more! I could honestly not spend another single penny on a Konami title when this was taking place. This is somewhat annoying as I hear both MGSV and the new PES are very good. However, it looks like it’s not going to have much of an effect on my life in the future anyway if this article is to be believed (https://gamingrespawn.com/konami-to-stop-making-aaa-console-games-except-for-pes-according-to-a-new-report/ )

So this is how the world ends, not with a bang but with Pachinko Machines?

Do one Konami, you bad bunch of bells.

It is especially sad to think that the Publisher of one of my favourite games ever in ISS Pro 98′ has now reached a point where I simply don’t want to partake in any business with it whatsoever. It’s a genuine shame and not a decision I took lightly.

And I’d just like to extend a personal apology to Stephen for not picking up PES on the PS4. I know it would have helped you out mate but I hope this has gone someway to explaining why.

Thanks for reading

Peace Out