If you’ve been paying any attention to Konami over the course of the past year or so, you’ve no doubt seen the company embark on a very strange, surreal and sometimes frustrating journey. The controversies are numerous, varied and well documented on the internet at this point and don’t need any further detail here, but suffice it to say that Konami has been taking some massive criticism from the online community as a result.
But none of this changes the fact that Konami is still the house that controls the destiny of many of our favorite franchises, from Metal Gear Solid, Silent Hill and Castlevania to Contra, Legend of the Mystical Ninja and Gradius. The reason we care about these games is because of how good they are, how they affected us as we played them and what they and their creators mean to us as a fan base that has grown increasingly more knowledgeable, aware and demanding over the years.
Konami, rest assured, has not taken all of this sitting back. They are a business, and they know that public perception in the era of social media is nothing to be taken lightly. It seems like they might be making the first moves to mend some fences and re-establish some good will with a dissatisfied market by giving their customers a chance to voice their opinion and offer some constructive thoughts on what they’d like to see moving forward.
At this time, Konami is conducting a survey to give you, the fan, an opportunity to tell them what you think of a number of their legacy franchises. Here is the list of titles they are currently conducting polls on:
- Yu-Gi-Oh!
- Legend of the Mystical Ninja-Goemon
- Castlevania
- Sunset Riders
- Gradius/Nemesis
- Track & Field
- Zone of the Enders
- Contra/Probotector
- Rocket Knight/Sparkster
- Suikoden
- Bishi bashi
- Bomberman
- Parodius
- Vandal Hearts
There’s also a section at the end where you get to voice your opinion and tell them what you think they could do in order to bring you more of what you want. I’ve already submitted my opinions (with copious thoughts about Metal Gear Solid, Zone of the Enders, Silent Hill, Castlevania and Suikoden.) Now go and tell them what you want to see. I’d recommend that you keep it clean, polite/professional and on point. We here at Oprainfall know a thing or two about using our voices in the correct way to get companies to release the games we want to see. Oh, and if you are going to spend a lot of time on the last section, make sure you draft it up using Note or some other document application because the survey is timed and if you take too long it will force you to start over.
If you participate in the Konami survey, you qualify for a chance to win up to $200 in Amazon vouchers. This sounds like a really good thing to me-tell Konami what you think and maybe get some Amazon bucks for doing so. If you are a fan of Konami’s video games, want to tell the company how you feel they can improve and you’re into Amazon swag, then this survey is for you.
Companies like Capcom and Square Enix have done their own fan feedback campaigns in the past and they seem to be well on the way back to the lofty heights they once enjoyed. Maybe, with the right moves and the right suggestions, Konami could find themselves similarly reborn.
