Hideo Kojima Leaving Konami
Say it isn’t so — things seemed to be going so well! Japanese superstar game developer Hideo Kojima was about to enter new territory with Silent Hills, a hotly anticipated new game in the Silent Hill series and believed by most to be the shot in the arm the ailing franchise needs. The fifth game in his signature Metal Gear Solid series, The Phantom Pain, is also on track to debut this fall on PS4. Could he really be leaving?
If you take a peek at Konami’s website, the signs aren’t too good. The Kojima Productions site now redirects to Konami’s Metal Gear site. On that site, all promotional materials for Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain, Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes and Metal Gear Solid: The Legacy Collection have Kojima’s name and production company removed now.
Kojima said MGS5 would be the final Metal Gear, but he has claimed to be ending the MGS series all the way back to #2, Sons of Liberty, which was fifteen years ago. Each time, Konami has announced another Metal Gear game, and Kojima has eventually been revealed to be director. Then he says it’s definitely the last one, and the cycle continues.
But he appears to really be serious this time. According to Gamespot, constant conflict between Kojima Productions and Konami Inc. has reached a breaking point, and the studio is now only working for the company on contract. The contract expires once MGS5 is completed, and once it does, Kojima will no longer work for Konami.
What this means for Silent Hills, no one can say yet — anything relating to future production of that game has yet to be confirmed. Konami has not released an official statement regarding Kojima’s departure, and is remaining tight-lipped about anything else. We’ll keep you posted.