A fallout between Kojima Productions and its publisher, Konami, has led to senior staff at the studio given restricted access to corporate internet, emails, and phone calls, GameSpot understands.
Along with the restricted communications, key developers at the studio, such as Hideo Kojima, will now have limited opportunities to lend their appearance to promotions of the studio’s upcoming game, Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain.
Power struggles between Kojima Productions and Konami have convinced the publisher to make drastic changes, including amending the employee status of its Metal Gear team. Some senior staff at the studio, including Kojima, now essentially work as contractors, not permanent employees.
The extraordinary measures were revealed by a source within Konami, speaking to GameSpot on the condition of anonymity. The person explained that, once the Phantom Pain project is finished, in all likelihood the management at the studio will disband.
"After we finish MGSV, Mr. Kojima and upper management will leave Konami. They said their contract ends in December," the source claimed.
The person added: "At a team meeting, Mr Kojima explained that team have to be one and make a good game for fans."
Kojima, now 51, joined Konami in 1986. His departure from the company will bring an end to nearly three decades of service.
In other developments, Konami has begun erasing the Kojima Productions logo from all official Metal Gear art, and it has demoted Kojima off its executive team. Meanwhile, Kojima Productions’ branding has also been removed from Twitter, the official Metal Gear website, and even the LA office listing.
Representatives for Konami would not discuss specifics of the matter when contacted by GameSpot. The corporation has offered a statement, however.
It reads: "Konami Digital Entertainment, including Mr. Kojima, will continue to develop and support Metal Gear products. Please look forward to future announcements."
The corporation's central public relations team, based in Tokyo, is unavailable at the time of going to press, due to it being past midnight local time.
Metal Gear Solid 5, Kojima’s latest iteration in the famed series, ships in September on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and PC.
An expanded statement from Konami follows: "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. Konami Digital Entertainment (including Mr. Kojima), will continue to develop and support Metal Gear products. Please look forward to future announcements."
and as i left COD when the real Infinity Ward left (ive hated the series since MW2, I can feel the difference, I dont know about you) , I will most likely leave this when Kojima steps down.
Only for Kojima.
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Oh yay another game publisher, screwing over a game dev, Sounds like Konami needs new management, I wonder what all this is over. I wish we could shift away from publishers.
It's just a dam shame that he is apparently leaving. And if Konami does take Kojima's name off of Metal Gear, I'm sorry but that's just plain bull sh*t. He did the work. He MUST receive credit for it. That's just proper legal procedure in copyright/trademark and crediting the creator. I was looking forward to Metal Gear and Silent Hills. If they truly do remove his name from those two works, I likely won't be purchasing them. Konami doesn't deserve the financial support when they pull that BS.
Of course, I view all of this as if Konami is firing Kojima. If Kojima is just leaving, then fine. But I still think he should be credited for the work he has already completed...
He was probably sick of making metal gear games and wanted to put his team to work on Snatcher 2 or something.
Pretty much like what Capcom did to Keiji Inafune & Shinji Mikami, I suppose?
So what about Silent Hills?
And Konami continues to swirl the drain. First Castlevania goes down hill, then they hand Silent Hill over to shitty dev teams after 4, and now this... Konami used to be one of my favorite game publishers from the NES-PS2 era... Now they're nothing but a shell of their former company. I was really looking forward to Silent Hills after the PT demo, but now it looks like the game will never see the light of day. Thanks Konami.
RIP Silent Hills . I wish we could spend some more time together
Not looking good for silent hills fans
Konami = retards.
Well I guess Konami doesn't like money then. Kojima Productions should purchase the license and property when Konami goes out of business.
On a side note this sounds like MGS5 is going to have no support after it's release.
The plus side is that we hopefully get to see Kojima's talent elsewhere. By the way, who is doing the Silent Hills after Kojima's staff leaves?
R.I.P Metal Gear Solid.
and another hashtag movement is born.
Well maybe he will join Rockstar now and make that GTA like game he wanted.
Hey gamespot, make a new article, konami is already hiring personnel for the development of a new Metal Gear series: http://www.reddit.com/r/metalgearsolid/comments/2zola6/konami_confirmed_new_metal_gearrecruiting_new/
@nikocaleffi They did a few hours ago
I look forward to future announcements
@Get_Shorty
Expect some rain tomorrow and sunshine the day after.
I remember Kojima once tweeted that the game will include content that may get him removed from the industry. Perhaps Konami is letting him go because they don't want to be smeared by the backlash from critics?
Am i the only one who thinks good riddance ? Metal Gear went downhill after 3 and became too cheesy with lots of sexual references...etc.
@k41m @zor3333l Keep telling yourself that
@zor3333l I think 3 was fine, but 4 absolutely SHI* on everything I liked about the series. That isn't to say it wasn't a good game, but it 'contradicted' what the other games were trying to achieve. I think the voice-acting and the extra content & Easter eggs is probably what makes it cheesy. People complain that it ruins immersion but obviously these are very young gamers who have never seen Easter eggs in games before. I didn't really catch the sexual references, unless you mean the sexualisation of the B&B corps in MGS4. I agree with you there.
@zor3333l
You're not the only one.
You know how kids are. Many need to believe in something and for some it consist of making a cult of Japanese culture, living and dreaming of that culture. So for some Japanese game creators are *stars*. What many fail to note is that a lot of that "Japanese culture", and MGS plots is a good example, is simply a copy of western culture mix together until the stew becomes indigestible.
Sexually let's not forget that a lot of Japanese sexual fantasies turn around sado-masochism or children with highly developed sexual features, some would be inclined to call pedophilic in its orientation.
@zor3333l After 3? Metal Gear Solid 3 is full of sexual references. During some cutscenes you can hold a button to stare at a woman's breasts.
@zor3333l No you aren't the only one
@saturatedbutter @zor3333l So...it's an option to be a pervert or not. And that is the player's choice.
@zor3333l Yes, you are the only one.
Kojima 51.Are you kidding? He looks like 30.
Its an April fools Setup, you guys never learn >_>
hes probably gonna go and make games just for ps4
@gunnmetal Grounds for that assumption?
Do you have anything not racist to back that claim?
........ i will watch very closely how Konami will handle the situation and how they treat Kojima and all his collegues. I have a slight bad feeling about the whole thing tbh, and if they don't pay him, his collegues and their hard work the proper respect, (just a minor detail, but not mentioning that it is a Hideo Kojima game f.e.), they have to be ready to face the consequences, i promise. They can loose BIG time here. So show some respect for the legend you are about to kick out of your back door, Konami!
Congrats to Peter Brown for getting this scoop.
@saturatedbutter wait, whats the scoop? i thought Reddit and fans figured it all out.
@saturatedbutter @iandizion713 yeah, but that we already knew, Kojima himself told us that in his exclusive interview with IGN. Reddit is who figured out them removing Kojima Productions from MGSV which i thought was the big story.
@iandizion713 @saturatedbutter Go to anywhere else that's talking about this story and you will see they all mention "Gamespot reports" as the source of this info. Because Peter Brown broke the story.
@saturatedbutter @iandizion713 i guess, if you want to call it a story. i thought the Kojima Productions story was bigger and better.
@iandizion713 @saturatedbutter Kojima being removed from Konami and only working as a contractor until his contract is up is the story, and only confirmed by Peter Brown of Gamespot.
@saturatedbutter @iandizion713 Kojima told us after MGSV he was done. So i guess it confirms what he told us. Its a good scoop i guess.
@iandizion713 @saturatedbutter Done with MGS, not Konami and therefore Silent Hills...
@iandizion713 @saturatedbutter
"Reddit and fans" didn't get insider info from someone at Konami. Gamespot is the first to break this story.
Wouldn't be surprised if this was due to the controversial content Kojima wanted to include in the game.
For me, MGS is finished! Changed Snake's voice and now the director?! They're way in over their heads.
Kojima is an absolute god among men. Wherever he goes, whatever he does, he will bring along his masterful creativity and continue brightening our minds and hearts with his breathtaking stories and characters. Who he works for is irrelevant. <3
@Cmgsccc
"...his masterful creativity..."
Japanese masterful creativity consist mostly in copying western culture. The problem is they don't know when to stop, nor when enough is enough. For MGS plots you take every plot you'll find in western movies, mix everything in until everything gets confused beyond any salvation, then serve the stew as some 'original' content.
I understand that some kids are obsessed with Japanese culture, specially anime, and that's alright. But if anyone thinks that everything that comes from Japan has to be great while what comes from elsewhere is less, need a little education and it's urgent.
@Cmgsccc
Like in Ground Zeroes?
@SpicaAntares seriously. total rip off.
@electronic_eye @SpicaAntares Hideo wanted to charge less but the Konami publisher wanted to charge $30-40. Don't blame the team, blame the publishers with their money grubbing hands.
Kojima already said a million times he over stuck doing metal gear for 30 plus years...this is not to be unexpected. Also think they released the prequel game to try to drum up funds for the price of making mgsv... does anyone know of any konami titles relevant or played bringing in income in japan arcades or anywhere..
Kojima wants to make other games,konami probably put all its money in mgsv. He wants out the want him out want that cheap work n not enough money for all them awesome cgi cutscenes. Think they will both win.
I bet my dime MGS: The Phantom Pain has lead in its wings and will end up like all those over-hyped games. Expect some half-baked product and some comments like "We had too much ambition, we tried reaching for the top but we couldn't." or whatever... "We needed more time, more money, and if only Konami simply kept feeding us forever we would've succeed. (In some very distant and hypothetical future)"
And Metal Gear Acid. Killer Dolls on a plane? Pffffft.
@SpicaAntares @Xristophoros and 20 minute f-ing long cutscenes.
@SpicaAntares A dime is all you can bet on wager so far-fetched.
@proceeder @SpicaAntares
The funny thing is I'm sure I'll win it back.
@SpicaAntares and what about gz? it was just a demo to hold people off before the real game releases. it was likely forced on kojima by konami at that ridiculous price point. anyway, the gameplay that is there is done well, though... from the 4 other main entry games of which are all classics, you pick on ground zeroes to be your counter argument? you sound bitter.
@electronic_eye @SpicaAntares @Xristophoros I like 20 minute long cutscenes, especially in MGS games
@electronic_eye that's fine if you don't like cut scenes. you could always skip them. that aside, the gameplay and mechanics are done well so what are you complaining about again?
@Xristophoros @SpicaAntares
Ground Zeroes.
@SpicaAntares why would you say that? his track record is spotless with the mgs series. he has never disappointed the fans and the games have always lived up to the hype.