Home Gaming Konami’s tech director and Fox Engine overseer quits

Konami’s tech director and Fox Engine overseer quits

1 min read
21

Merceron

Konami’s Fox Engine is incredible. Anyone who’s played Metal Gear Solid V on any platform will tell you that. It looks incredible, and runs even better than it looks, delivering a consistently smooth experience. Konami is, you’d believe, sitting on a goldmine. The games and experiences they could create with the Fox Engine are limitless.

Only it seems that they have no intentions to use it anymore, now that Metal Gear Solid is done and PES 16 is out. So say the chaps at IGN, citing French site Gameblog. They say that as a result of Konami’s continuing shift towards mobile and pachinko slot machines, they’re not going to be utilising the engine much.

That’s prompted Julien Merceron, the man responsible for overseeing Konami’s Fox Engine, to leave the studio. Initially posted as a rumour, it has now been confirmed with multiple independent sources that Merceron, who’s currently Konami’s Worldwide Technology Director, has quit.

Konami’s management, it seems, is one driven entirely by profit, and no longer sees the value of traditional games, when cheaply made mobile games and slot machines are more than capable of generating cash. I don’t blame Merceron for leaving, nor would I blame anyone who loves making games or creating the technology behind them for leaving Konami; a place that seems like hell on earth to work for.

Last Updated: September 18, 2015

21 Comments

  1. Umar

    September 18, 2015 at 07:40

    Ya’ll know what hashtag to use…

    Reply

    • RinceThis

      September 18, 2015 at 07:42

      Umm, #StayStrongUmar?

      Reply

      • Umar

        September 18, 2015 at 07:42

        LOL NO!…Dammit…

        Reply

        • RinceThis

          September 18, 2015 at 07:45

          Hey, just supporting you 🙂 Not many people have their own # dammit!

          Reply

          • Umar

            September 18, 2015 at 07:53

            *hugs* ^_^ …I see Ryanza used the correct one lol

          • RinceThis

            September 18, 2015 at 07:55

            *crying* They grow up so quickly!

    • Alien Emperor Trevor

      September 18, 2015 at 09:07

      I was going to go with:

      MGSV – A Julien Merceron game.

      Reply

  2. RinceThis

    September 18, 2015 at 07:41

    WTF? He’s probably best mate’s with Kojima…

    Reply

    • HairyEwok

      September 18, 2015 at 08:45

      You could say his life is Directed and Edited by Hideo Kojima. A Hideo Kojima life.

      Reply

    • Pariah

      September 18, 2015 at 08:58

      *Grammar Nazi Mode – Engage*

      Plurals do not use an apostrophe. This is a common error, but a fatal one should anyone take the actual meaning behind the apostrophe – which either shows possession or is used to abbreviate. The correct word is “mates”. You did however use it correctly with “He’s”. So I’ll give you 50%. Maybe an extra 10% for effort.

      *Grammar Nazi Mode – Disengage*

      Also, happy Friday!

      Reply

      • Alien Emperor Trevor

        September 18, 2015 at 09:05

        Oh no you didn’t!

        Reply

      • GooseZA

        September 18, 2015 at 09:12

        You make me so proud.

        *sniff

        Reply

  3. RinceThis

    September 18, 2015 at 07:51

    Man, Konami. A name we’ll look back on in 5 years and say ‘oh those crazy cats. Didn’t they fuck themselves by moving to pretend gaming platforms?’

    Reply

    • RinceThat

      September 18, 2015 at 09:23

      Dont forget Mass Effect, 20 years from now everybody will remember it as the game with the shit ending instead of the game that redefined Sci Fi RPG with a fresh speech wheel, new lore and save carry overs.

      I understand it when they become over ambitious while being pestered by the Producers who are in it for the profit, but man, games need to be taken more seriously as an art form.

      Imagine if the Sestine Chapel was half complete because Michelkojima had a fallout with his commissioner?

      Reply

      • RinceThis

        September 18, 2015 at 09:30

        HAHA! And if he DID have a fall out, he would have fallen a long way! BOOM!

        Reply

  4. Ryanza

    September 18, 2015 at 07:52

    #fuckkonami

    Reply

  5. The Sten

    September 18, 2015 at 08:30

    I thought that was Luke Skywalker in the header O_O

    Reply

  6. HairyEwok

    September 18, 2015 at 08:44

    In 20 years time we’ll have our grand kids on our laps telling them the days that konami made honorable games.

    Reply

  7. RinceThat

    September 18, 2015 at 09:04

    Sods flipping law. We finally get an engine that works like a dream at 60fps, after all the promises from Frostbite, Crystal, snowflake, ice… and they go an chuck FOX ENGINE 2 into a pachinko machine 🙁

    #fucKONAMI

    Reply

  8. RinceThat

    September 18, 2015 at 09:08

    Everybody is getting excited for MGSV on-line, but not one person has bothered realising that those assets for the on-line portion of the game BOMED the 3rd chapter of the single player experience.

    I am loving the game, as I said, Im in it for the gameplay. 80hours at 48% and have not even bothered attempting mission 32 yet. I hear after that everything is recycled on a higher difficulty in Chapter 2. WOW

    FFXIII also created a new engine and its normal to spend 5 years in development like Remedy Studios did with Alan Wake.

    Konami went and fucked it up.

    Reply

  9. HairyEwok

    September 18, 2015 at 10:02

    Holy crap. I just read that #fuckkonami is going to give metal gear online for free to those who have the phantom pain…. Konani is giving extra content away for free… FREE!

    Reply

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