According to the latest reports, Hideo Kojima is no longer with Konami.
It's been months since rumors of friction between the Metal Gear creator and his long-time publisher first surfaced. At first, it seemed strange—why would a company and one of its best employees suddenly have a falling out after three decades? It didn't make much sense, especially with Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain's launch approaching.
However, as the months went on, more and more evidence started piling up. Konami started making bizarre, seemingly terrible business decisions—the publisher cancelled Silent Hills, supposedly halted development on all triple-A titles and pledged to bring its most popular franchises to the wonderful world of pachinko machines. It was such a radical departure from everything fans had known about the company, and it made the feud between Kojima and Konami seem a lot more plausible.
Now, according to a source quoted by the New Yorker, Kojima has officially left the company. As is to be expected, details are few and far between, but one thing seems certain: a partnership that lasted for more than 30 years has gone up in smoke.
Supposedly, Kojima left Konami earlier this month—Oct. 9, to be specific. Now that his time with Konami is at an end, the report claims that Kojima is currently waiting for his noncompete clause (which prevents him from signing on with another company) to end this December. Given his long list of credentials (and the fact that he created an entire genre of gaming), it's easy to assume that Kojima won't have much trouble finding work. The question is, who will he be working for?
Until Konami or Kojima make some sort of official statement, there's really no telling if any of this is true ... but, considering everything that's happened over the past several months, it wouldn't be all that surprising if Kojima and Konami were done.
Kojima's latest game, the fantastic Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, is available now.
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