It’s been rumored over the last few days that Konami and Kojima may be severing their relationship, and their latest non-denial/denial seems to say yes (see the posted letter below). Over the last few days everything with Kojima’s name has been removed from the online Konami presence; Kojima Studios is getting a new name (Konami Los Angeles Studio), he’s no longer listed on the Executive list at Konami, the Kojima twitter is migrating to be @metalgear_en, the Metal Gear 5 website no longer lists as “A Hideo Kojima Game”, the list goes on. Sure this could just be a way of rebranding and trying to sever the name Hideo Kojima from being a brand, but the apparent silence from Konami and the straight silence from Kojima are a little telling. We’ll keep you posted as more news comes up, but it looks like Kojima may be moving on. On the bright side though, Metal Gear could start being a little less weird in the future… so we’ve got that going for us.
To Customers,
Thank you for your continued patronage of KONAMI products and services.
The latest title in the METAL GEAR series,“METAL GEAR SOLID V: THE PHANTOM PAIN” (below, “MGSV: TPP”), will be released as planned starting on Tuesday, September 1st, 2015 in North America, Latin America, and Europe, followed by Japan and Asia on Wednesday, September 2nd. Hideo Kojima will remain involved throughout.
Hideo Kojima stated, “I want to reassure fans that I am 100% involved and will continue working on METAL GEAR SOLID V: THE PHANTOM PAIN; I’m determined to make it the greatest game I’ve directed to date. Don’t miss it!”
In addition, KONAMI will continue to develop and distribute top-quality content in the METAL GEAR series following “MGSV: TPP.” We greatly anticipate and deeply appreciate your ongoing support for METAL GEAR.
As the next step in the series, KONAMI has already resolved to develop new “METAL GEAR”.
We will be conducting interviews for main staff to lead the development.
Plus Hideo’s twitter account looked like he was cryptically saying he was leaving. haha