Hideo Kojima to Leave Konami

Image: DEIVIDI CORREA DE SOUZA / Shutterstock.com

According to an inside source, Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima is leaving Konami after the completion of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. An anonymous source, who spoke to GameSpot, said “power struggles” between Kojima Productions and Konami have led to employment changes for Kojima himself, as well as other senior staff. Konami is also reportedly looking to brand an entirely new Metal Gear Solid series.

Kojima and the senior staff involved reportedly now work as contractors instead of full-time employees. Shortly after this anonymous report dropped, the Kojima Productions brand has been dissolved and even removed from upcoming title Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. It seems “A Hideo Kojima Game” has been removed, too. Konami’s quickly gave reason to this, stating “In accordance with the recent change in production organization of all of Konami, Kojima Productions, as well as other internal production companies, has had its name, etc., changed to move into the corporate headquarters work structure.” While this tells us quite a bit about the structure of the company, it also doesn’t give us much to go on. It seems as though Konami wants its name centerfold and Kojima’s in the background. This was largely similar to their explanation of the change in Kojima’s employment status. In an interview with Gamespark, a Konami rep stated “I am unable to comment on an individual’s type of employment.” when asked about the creators employment status. It also seems that Konami has restricted Kojima’s public relations in relation to MGSV, announcing that Kojima will be doing fewer interviews.

In more recent news, Kojima Productions logo was pulled from the Silent Hills Website. This calls into question whether or not Kojima will be involved with the project at all. This also leaves Hideo’s employment status with the company looking more and more grim.

All of this failure of denial on the subject of Kojima’s employment status and involvement from Konami does not lead us to believe that the two are on great terms. We’ll have to wait and see what happens, but it seems like with a new Metal Gear Solid direction, the removal of Kojima Production’s logos and a changing company structure, Kojima may not be around much longer.