Konami Opens New "Creators-First" Studio In Osaka

Konami has opened a major new studio in Osaka, which it says will follow the mantra "creators first." The announcement notes that the studio is located in the city center and will be equipped with the technology required for big-budget game development, including motion capture equipment.

This move comes in the wake of Konami's 50th anniversary, which the company celebrated in February. It's also planning to create a "next-generation R&D center" in Tokyo, which will be called Konami Creative Front Tokyo Bay. That facility is set to be completed in 2025.

Over the past two years, Konami has indicated that it intends to return to the core game industry in a major way after moving away from AAA games production in the mid-2010s. The company's Silent Hill announcement event last year was one of the first major shifts in that direction, and the recent Castlevania/Dead Cells collaboration is the most recent.

Reports and rumors suggest that Konami will announce a remake of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater in the coming months, along with a new Castlevania, but it's not clear if or when that will emerge. In the near future, it's possible that Konami will continue to outsource development of most of these new titles to external studios, as it did with each of the Silent Hill titles that it announced late last year.