Konami is inseparable from the history of video games. The company that celebrates its 50th birthday is one of the oldest gaming companies in the gaming industry. Since the glory days of arcade games in the 70s, first gaming consoles in the 80s and the success of mobile games in the early 2010s, Konami is never absent for all the gamers in the world. 

Even when they “only” release few games such as; Metal gear Solid V, Super Bomberman R, Yu-Gi-Oh and yearly release of Pro Evolution Soccer (PES0, Konami’s income increased in the last five years. In an interview with GameIndustry.biz, President of Konami Europe, Masami Saso states that mobile games and the yearly release of PES are their keys to success in this era. 

“We work hard to bring our games to many devices so it can gain more fans. PES for consoles and also mobile, and Yu-Gi-Oh in a form of cards and mobile games,” said Saso.

Saso added that PES is one of the most popular games from Konami. Since its release in 1995, the game develops every year and adds new fans too. But Konami didn’t want to get conceited, in 2017 the game took a daring step by launching a mobile version. This is proven successful as PES has been downloaded over 200 million times.

Saso also felt that Yu-Gi-Oh receive a “new wind” after the release of the mobile version. “Many players that played started to play the mobile version and bought the console version or the cards,” Saso clarified.

Even they reap a lot of profit from the mobile gaming trend, Konami doesn’t stop producing games for consoles. At least for the near future.

“Even when there are varieties of new gaming platforms, we believe gaming consoles as the most important. We will innovate ideas and technologies for gaming consoles first, then we apply them to other devices,” Saso said.

Other than mobile games, another factor that helps the progress of Konami is the development of esports. This can be seen from the esports building being build in the Konami’s office in Ginza, Japan. This building will have rooms to broadcast esports matches and places for esports athletes to practice.

With the sports games that Konami has, Saso felt that it’s not hard to pull the fans of conventional sports to become fans of esports. The man also believes that other games like Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Links and Super Bomberman R have the potential as an esports game.

Saso believed that esports will revolutionize the world of sports.

“Sports always change, starting from physical activities such as; running, jumping and throwing. Then to sports on a field like soccer and baseball. With the industrial revolution, we got motor race. Now with the development of technology, it’s time for esports,” Saso firmly believes. 

It seems like Konami is not playing around and have big plans for esports. “In 2020, all eyes will be on sports and Tokyo for the Olympics. And Konami plans to be the leader of esports globally,” Saso said.

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