No, Konami’s Still Cool With Hideo Kojima. For Now.

<p>You might&&num;8217&semi;ve heard some rumors flying today regarding Hideo Kojima&&num;8217&semi;s untimely departure from Konami&comma; but according to recent reports&comma; the Metal Gear designer won&&num;8217&semi;t be leaving his longtime publisher anytime soon&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Amidst some churning of the grind stones in <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;reddit&period;com&sol;r&sol;metalgearsolid&sol;comments&sol;2zkpsh&sol;kojima&lowbar;leaves&lowbar;konami&lowbar;possibly&lowbar;kojipro&lowbar;break&lowbar;up&sol;">Reddit&&num;8217&semi;s rumor mill<&sol;a>&comma; there were rampant fears that some strange changes to a variety of Metal Gear game box art&comma; including that of <em>Metal Gear Solid V&colon; The Phantom Pain<&sol;em>&&num;8216&semi;s cover&comma; was indicative of some changing of the winds at the company&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;03&sol;kojima&lowbar;2&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"aligncenter wp-image-79682 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;03&sol;kojima&lowbar;2&period;jpg" alt&equals;"kojima&lowbar;2" width&equals;"800" height&equals;"465" &sol;><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Image courtesy of Video Gamer<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>As is the norm&comma; the familiar phrase of &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;A Hideo Kojima Game&&num;8221&semi; adorned <em>MGS V<&sol;em>&&num;8216&semi;s newly unveiled cover art&period; Today&comma; Konami’s worldwide product listings for everything from <em>MGS V<&sol;em> to <em>Metal Gear Solid 3&colon; Snake Eater<&sol;em> no longer bears the famous Kojima name&comma; nor does it bear the iconic fox-laden insignia Kojima&&num;8217&semi;s game studio&comma; Kojima Industries&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This bit of mystery gave way to further speculation that Kojima had or already was leaving Konami&semi; worse&comma; that his and director Guillermo Del Toro&&num;8217&semi;s upcoming and <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;youtube&period;com&sol;watch&quest;v&equals;qNwUrUrD0Ig">scary as sh&ast;t<&sol;a><em> Silent Hill<&sol;em>s game was in jeopardy as a result&period; The answer we have for now is something only vaguely reassuring&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><amp-youtube layout&equals;"responsive" width&equals;"500" height&equals;"281" data-videoid&equals;"wTNESMVZD-U" title&equals;"METAL GEAR ONLINE TRAILER Commentary - MGSV&colon;TPP &vert; KONAMI &lpar;ESRB&rpar;"><a placeholder href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;youtube&period;com&sol;watch&quest;v&equals;wTNESMVZD-U"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;i&period;ytimg&period;com&sol;vi&sol;wTNESMVZD-U&sol;hqdefault&period;jpg" layout&equals;"fill" object-fit&equals;"cover" alt&equals;"METAL GEAR ONLINE TRAILER Commentary - MGSV&colon;TPP &vert; KONAMI &lpar;ESRB&rpar;"><&sol;a><&sol;amp-youtube><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Videogamer reports that Kojima&&num;8217&semi;s still tight with his publisher of roughly the last two decades&comma; but that the company&&num;8217&semi;s supposedly restructuring its game products under the &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Konami Digital Entertainment” name and apparently that alone according to Konami&&num;8217&semi;s statement to the press&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote><p>&&num;8220&semi;As we have already announced&comma; we are shifting our production structure to a headquarters-controlled system&comma; in order to establish a steadfast operating base capable of responding to the rapid market changes that surround our digital entertainment business&comma;&&num;8221&semi; the company said via email&period; &&num;8220&semi;Konami Digital Entertainment &lpar;including Mr&period; Kojima&rpar;&comma; will continue to develop and support Metal Gear products&period; Please look forward to future announcements&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>There&&num;8217&semi;s not much more than that at the moment&comma; but for now&comma; it appears that Konami&&num;8217&semi;s fully intent on paying Kojima his due sans box art&period; The game designer of over thirty years recently claimed that <em>MGS V<&sol;em> was to be his last <em>Metal Gear Solid<&sol;em> game&period; Probably&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Elsewhere&comma; game developer Platinum&&num;8217&semi;s also teased a sequel to their Metal Gear spinoff of <em>Metal Gear Rising&colon; Revengeance<&sol;em> at the Taipei Game Show earlier this year&comma; which Kojima has subsequently <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;hideo-kojima-wont-confirm-metal-gear-rising-2-tease&sol;">given no comment on<&sol;a>&period; We thought the original entry <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;cut-bacon-bits-metal-gear-rising-revengeance-review&sol;">was pretty sweet<&sol;a>&comma; FYI&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In the meantime&comma; <em>Metal Gear Solid V&colon; The Phantom Pain<&sol;em> releases alongside Avalanche Studios&&num;8217&semi; <em>Mad Max<&sol;em> <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;new-leak-dates-metal-gear-solid-v-for-a-september-release&sol;">this September 1st<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Via<&sol;strong> <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;gamespot&period;com&sol;articles&sol;kojima-expected-to-leave-konami-after-mgs5-inside-&sol;1100-6426024&sol;">Gamespot<&sol;a>&comma; <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;videogamer&period;com&sol;ps4&sol;metal&lowbar;gear&lowbar;solid&lowbar;5&lowbar;the&lowbar;phantom&lowbar;pain&sol;news&sol;konami&lowbar;responds&lowbar;to&lowbar;hideo&lowbar;kojima&lowbar;exit&lowbar;rumours&period;html">Videogamer<&sol;a>&comma; &amp&semi; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;konami&period;com&sol;mgs&sol;">Konami<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;