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[gimymblert]

Nikkei Asian Review: The Konami Exodus

In April this year, a Kojima Productions executive applied for the company to join ITS Kenpo, a health insurance society for companies in the gaming and internet service industry. Joining such insurance organizations is crucial to employee welfare, but the application was not even accepted. When the executive asked why, he was told by ITS Kenpo that all applications are screened by the board chairman before being reviewed by the board, and it could not show this application to the chairman.

Kimihiko Higashio, a director at Konami, is the chairman at ITS Kenpo.

The actions by ITS Kenpo suggest it was surmising Konami's wishes. But Article 22 of the Health Insurance Act stipulates that the decisions of health insurance societies be made by a majority vote by the board. If there is a tie, then the chairman decides. Showing applications to the chairman first would be deviating from standard procedure. But the issue goes beyond that: Health insurance societies by nature are supposed to act in the public's interest; decisions on applications cannot be left to a single person.

Kojima is not the only former Konami employee -- or "ex-Kon" if you will -- facing obstacles after leaving the company.

A staffing agency employee who asked not to be named said he notifies gaming companies if a prospective hire is an ex-Kon. He said that is because Konami files complaints to gaming companies who take on its former employees.

One major gaming company went so far as to warn its staff against hiring ex-Kon. There was even a case in which a former Konami employee moved to a construction company before joining another gaming company, hoping to throw people off the scent.

One ex-Kon described his surprise at learning that Konami had instructed an employee at a television company not to deal with its former employees. In another case, a former Konami executive was forced to close his business due to pressure from the gaming giant.

Ex-Kons are not allowed to put their Konami experience on their public resumes. "If you leave the company, you cannot rely on Konami's name to land a job," explained a former employee. If an ex-Kon is interviewed by the media, the company will send that person a letter through a legal representative, in some cases indicating that Konami is willing to take them to court.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1391336

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1391245

[Manuel Magalhães]

Fuck Konami.

[SchriefFighter]

Wow, they're just sinking to more and more lows.

[rj]

ugh playing bemani is now gonna feel icky to my ethics center and that makes me feel conflicted

im gonna go pirate all the silent hills now

[Superb Joe]

was zone of the enders 2 good

[gimymblert]

It was teh best, never played it

[s0]

Ex-Kons are not allowed to put their Konami experience on their public resumes. "If you leave the company, you cannot rely on Konami's name to land a job," explained a former employee. If an ex-Kon is interviewed by the media, the company will send that person a letter through a legal representative, in some cases indicating that Konami is willing to take them to court.

i don't know anything about japanese law, but i really doubt that would hold up in court. usually obligations to your former employer are limited to confidential info. there are non competition agreements, but they aren't generally enforced unless the competition of a former employee would be an existential threat to the former employer.

seems like a scare tactic

[gimymblert]

Ex-Kons are not allowed to put their Konami experience on their public resumes. "If you leave the company, you cannot rely on Konami's name to land a job," explained a former employee. If an ex-Kon is interviewed by the media, the company will send that person a letter through a legal representative, in some cases indicating that Konami is willing to take them to court.

i don't know anything about japanese law, but i really doubt that would hold up in court. usually obligations to your former employer are limited to confidential info. there are non competition agreements, but they aren't generally enforced unless the competition of a former employee would be an existential threat to the former employer.

seems like a scare tactic

That's why reaction to the Konami story was muted in Japan; because anyone who's engaged with the industry in Japan has heard all of this before. Hell, we've heard worse - the company with yakuza ties (this doesn't narrow it down very much, incidentally; many of Japan's videogame publishers have financial ties to organised crime due to their involvement with pachinko) which hired thuggish construction foremen as "producers" on a behind-schedule game, who physically abused and intimidated development staff to try to force them back on schedule; the world-famous publisher whose Japanese development studio pays far below the industry average, enforces horrendous contract clauses and tends to burn through staff in less than 18 months, on the basis that it can easily recruit new eager-eyed staff from the ranks of fans of its famous franchises. Asking staff to clock in and out to go to the bathroom is just another item to add to the bottom of the list of reasons why Japanese games companies are, in general, terrible employers.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2015-08-07-konamis-draconian-workplace-raises-no-eyebrows-in-japan

[Superb Joe]

people working on video games being treated like shit and worked to death within a year isn't exactly a japanese problem either.

[Capntastic]

was zone of the enders 2 good

Fun game

Anime story with an actually incoherent translation that got dubbed verbatim

Good boss fights

[Superb Joe]

i played it once but i'm not sure if the combat holds up in the modern day. anyway i'm going to buy it to support a great company.

[s0]

I played the first one. It was ok.

[Superb Joe]

the first one sucks ass

[gimymblert]

the first one sucks ass