There's an article in the Japanese economy newspaper Nikkei regarding the current state of Konami… and it sounds like a real life nightmare.
Here's the translated summary of the article:
- Culture at the company shifted from traditional, hardcore games to cheaper, social titles in 2010 when Konami shipped a mobile game called Dragon Collection, which earned huge profit and a low budget.
- Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain‘s development budget has surpassed 10 billion yen ($80 million).
- Kojima Productions is now known as “Number 8 Production Department.” Its computers have no internet access and can only send messages between internal computers.
- Employees that leave the office during lunch beak are monitored with time cards. Those who return late have their names announced throughout the company.
- There are cameras in the office corridors to monitor the movements of Konami’s employees.
- Most Konami employees don’t have their own permanent company e-mail addresses. Staff who deal with people outside the company, such as public relations, do, however, everyone else’s e-mail is routinely randomized and changed every few monts.
- Konami developers who aren’t seen as useful are reassigned duties such as security guards, cleaning staff at fitnes clubs, or roles at pachi-slot machine factories. This includes producers who worked on big titles. In 2013, Japanese newspaper Asahi News reported on a former Konami employee who allegedly went from development to working in a Konami pachi-slot factory, which led him into severe depression.
- After announcing on Facebook that he was leaving Konami for a new job, Konami monitored his social media post and reshuffled those within the company that “Liked” it.
http://gematsu.com/2015/08/nikkei-report-bad-things-happening-konami