At long last, it appears that Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima may have finally separated with Konami.
Japanese newspaper Nikkei (via Polygon) reports Dec. 15 was Kojima's last day at the game company he has called home for close to 30 years. According to the paper, Kojima is looking at forming a new development studio with former Kojima Productions members. Talks are ongoing about having the studio's new game debut on Sony's PlayStation platform.
The ongoing saga surrounding Kojima and Konami's turbulent divorce has been going on for months, the first sign being the sudden cancellation of Kojima's Silent Hills project. Next, Kojima's name was removed from the boxart of the Metal Gear Solid series. From there, things only continued to get worse. Reports of prison-like working conditions at Kojima Productions thanks to Konami policies came to light, and Kojima was suspiciously absent at various award shows and gaming events.
It all came to a head during the Game Awards earlier this month, when host Geoff Keighley publicly stated that Kojima was not allowed to attend the award show. Keighley had this to say about the entire situation during the show, which was watched by more than 2.3 million people online:
"Hideo Kojima is not here with us tonight and I want to tell you a little about that," Keighley said. "Mr. Kojima had every intention of being with us tonight, but unfortunately he was informed by a lawyer representing Konami just recently that he would not be allowed to travel to tonight's awards ceremony to accept any awards. He's still under an employment contract. And it's disappointing and it's inconceivable to me that an artist like Hideo would not be allowed to come here and celebrate with his peers and his fellow teammates."
As for why all of this played out like it did? That's still a mystery. It's unclear exactly what was going on behind the scenes between Kojima and Konami, but it's apparent that the relationship between the two deteriorated quickly.
The future of Metal Gear Solid is unknown as well. The latest entry in the franchise, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, received universal critical acclaim when it released in September. Konami still owns the rights to the franchise but has expressed interest in moving away from traditional game development to focus on Japanese gambling machines. Whatever the future of the franchise is, Kojima sadly won't be involved.
