About

#FucKonami is a social media hashtag used in conjunction with the outrageous business practices enacted by Japanese video game publisher Konami. The hashtag was coined by freelance video game reviewer and analyst Jim Sterling in response to Konami's treatment of him and fellow reviewers in the past and the company's treatment of their own video game IPs and employees.

Origin

On August 10, 2015, Jim Sterling uploaded an episode of "The Jimquisition," a show that discusses happenings in the video gaming and its industry, titled "The Silent Hell That is Konami," to his YouTube channel. In the video, Sterling discusses the working conditions within the walls of Konami.

Coupled with his past history with the company's treatment of him in the review process of their games and the continued mistreatment of their own IPs (the most recent at the time being turning Silent Hill and Castlevania into pachinko machines), Jim Sterling created the hashtag #FucKonami, that he would use in conjunction with his dissatisfaction with Konami's business practices, along with encouraging his audience to do the same. Sterling would also add a new segment to his show called "FucKonami News" that addressed the latest outrageous practice by the publisher.

Spread

On September 7th, 2015, a thread was made on the subreddit /r/OutOftheLoop discussing the recent influx of the #FucKonami movement, garnering 505 upvotes upon its archival.

The Game Awards 2015 / #FreeKojima

At The Game Awards 2015, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain won the award for best Action/Adventure game. Although director of the game, Hideo Kojima, was supposed to accept the award, host of the ceremony, Geoff Keighley announced to the viewers that Konami had barred Kojima from the event, with a collective of jeers and booing erupting from the audience.

During the outcry of tweets full of resentment for Konami's decision, some on twitter took the opportunity to campaign for Kojima to leave Konami behind with the hashtag #FreeKojima. Kojima would go on to part ways with Konami on December 15th, 2015.

Metal Gear Survive

With Hideo Kojima being let go and the rights to the Metal Gear IP still in the hands of the company, Konami sought to cash in on the survival game craze using the Metal Gear brand. On August 17th, 2016, Konami unveiled the trailer "Metal Gear Survive," garnering overwhelmingly negative reception on IGN's YouTube mirror of the trailer.