You might’ve heard some rumors flying today regarding Hideo Kojima’s untimely departure from Konami, but according to recent reports, the Metal Gear designer won’t be leaving his longtime publisher anytime soon.
Amidst some churning of the grind stones in Reddit’s rumor mill, there were rampant fears that some strange changes to a variety of Metal Gear game box art, including that of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain‘s cover, was indicative of some changing of the winds at the company.
Image courtesy of Video Gamer
As is the norm, the familiar phrase of “A Hideo Kojima Game” adorned MGS V‘s newly unveiled cover art. Today, Konami’s worldwide product listings for everything from MGS V to Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater no longer bears the famous Kojima name, nor does it bear the iconic fox-laden insignia Kojima’s game studio, Kojima Industries.
This bit of mystery gave way to further speculation that Kojima had or already was leaving Konami; worse, that his and director Guillermo Del Toro’s upcoming and scary as sh*t Silent Hills game was in jeopardy as a result. The answer we have for now is something only vaguely reassuring.
Videogamer reports that Kojima’s still tight with his publisher of roughly the last two decades, but that the company’s supposedly restructuring its game products under the “Konami Digital Entertainment” name and apparently that alone according to Konami’s statement to the press.
“As we have already announced, we are shifting our production structure to a headquarters-controlled system, in order to establish a steadfast operating base capable of responding to the rapid market changes that surround our digital entertainment business,” the company said via email. “Konami Digital Entertainment (including Mr. Kojima), will continue to develop and support Metal Gear products. Please look forward to future announcements.”
There’s not much more than that at the moment, but for now, it appears that Konami’s fully intent on paying Kojima his due sans box art. The game designer of over thirty years recently claimed that MGS V was to be his last Metal Gear Solid game. Probably.
Elsewhere, game developer Platinum’s also teased a sequel to their Metal Gear spinoff of Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance at the Taipei Game Show earlier this year, which Kojima has subsequently given no comment on. We thought the original entry was pretty sweet, FYI.
In the meantime, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain releases alongside Avalanche Studios’ Mad Max this September 1st.
Via Gamespot, Videogamer, & Konami