Contra, Castlemaine Silent Hill, Metal Gear Solid, Pro Evolution Soccer : INAMI is responsible for some of the most famous and most popular gaming franchises of history. However, the former fame is not much left. After failures such as Metal Gear: Survive and Football 2022 and the compensation with developer legend Video Kolyma, many fans have turned away from the Japanese traditional company. INAMI ran a few formerly successful franchises in recent years in front of the wall. The past looked so rosy. In this video we talk about the great INAMI brands, their climb and about what was last made.
The Japanese company has existed since 1969 — at that time as repair and rental service for music machines. In 1978, the strategy change: INAMI developed video game machines developed in the future. As a manufacturer of titles like Scramble, Flogger, Track & Field, Radius or Contra reached the small wave, according to the literal translation of the company name, world-famous. Later, the Japanese recognized the signs of time and supported home consoles as well as the Nintendo Entertainment system. Other brands such as Castlemaine, Contra or Metal Gear were established.
In addition, INAMI in the sports game area made a name for: The Pro Evolution Soccer published in 2001 for PlayStation 1 and PlayStation 2 took the two decades of duel with EA SPORTS ‘FIFA. Despite license problems and Baedeker presentation, the series became a crowd pleaser under football tracks.
What should be made clear at this point: INAMI has a true funds of great and successful brands. And almost every one of them shaped the genres in their own way. Of course, there were fluctuations in the quality and alignment over the years; Especially Silent Hill, due to the increasing focus on Action in later years, never returned to old strength. Nevertheless, INAMI had a stone in the board for many players and players.
Finally, the manufacturer underpinned this trust again and again with successes: Castlemaine: Lords of Shadow from 2010 For example, the classic 2D classic acted as a full 3D action game a new stamp. The reinterpretation of the classic company developed by MercurySteam very good reviews and even received a continuation in 2014. Since then, however, Castlemaine: Lords of Shadow is resting somewhere in the archives like Dracula in his coffin.
Instead, INAMI presented the horror demo P.T. on Games Com 2014. As a free download. The PlayStation-4 game was a teaser on the reboot planned in collaboration with filmmaker Guillermo del Too of the Silent Hill series. P.T. generated a wave of euphoria. For many fans a Silent Hill developed by Video Kolyma was a true dream! At this maturity, however, followed the yaw crash: At the end of March 2015, the name and face Video Kolyma disappeared step by step from all INAMI assets — such as the announcement images on the official website of Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain.
The community was eradicated about dealing with the Metal Gear er finder. Worse, with Silent Hill and Metal Gear Solid, two of the largest and most popular INAMI brands were affected by this mud battle. Video Kolyma, however, was not the only prominent name that left INAMI during this period. As early as 2014, Dave Cox adopted company affiliation after 17 years. Cox worked as a producer at Castlemaine: Lords of Shadow, but also on Pro Evolution Soccer and Metal Gear Solid. In September 2015, the director of the Fox engine Goodbye, INAMI said with Julien Mercer on. At the same time, reports on bad working conditions at INAMI also contributed to the poor image of the company.
Instead, Football graduates as a free2play game in the standard tradition. But to the start was Football 2022 so broken and unfinished that it quickly became the worst rated game at Steam quickly.
The user comments at Steam are scalding:
The best moment of the game was when I uninstalled it again.
Or: I heard the bad reviews and wanted to try it yourself. It’s worse than I imagined.
The community ran storm, INAMI promised improvement — but in small steps. The large update originally planned for November 2021 on version 1.0.0 has moved INAMI to spring 2022. Until then, patches should roast over the pain. Whether Football 2022 can recover from one of the catastrophic starts of Games history remains more than doubtful.
What happens now with the once big brands?
Finally, the question arises: Will INAMI be able to summarize foot again in the Triple-A market? A clear answer is difficult. Finally, the Japanese last put all major projects in the sand, and the Kojima-Affaire continues to today. If the possible revivals of Metal Gear Solid and Co. are again floppy, INAMI is likely to finally bury this area and will focus exclusively on mobile, e-sport and, above all, its Pacino machines. Names Triple-A future stands and falls with the decisions of the coming months and years. After the recent history, however, one may be skeptical, whether INAMI can take the return to the top of the players again.