Hideo Kojima Leaves Konami… Or Has He?

It has emerged that Hideo Kojima, creator of the Metal Gear franchise, left his position at Konami two weeks ago following months of speculation, though no official confirmation has been released. Kojima’s exit followed a leaving party with the team formerly known as Kojima Productions (now known under the bureaucratic moniker “8th Production Department”, according to Nikkei) on 9th October, described by an insider to the New Yorker as “a rather cheerful but also emotional goodbye.”

After the report by The New Yorker, though, Konami came out to deny that Kojima had severed ties with the organisation, claiming to Tokyo Sports (and translated by Kotaku) that the Japanese auteur was simply “on vacation”. His party must have been one of those “Happy Vacation” parties. You don’t have those? You’re missing out.

“Currently, Kojima and the development team are finished developing Metal Gear Solid V and are taking a long time off from work,” Konami added, with “a long time” presumably an obtuse way of saying “forever”.

When asked directly about Kojima’s farewell celebration, the Konami spokesperson said, “We’re not sure what kind of thing this was.” Of course they don’t! Konami doesn’t understand sentiment, its heart having been replaced by a pachinko machine long ago.

Just to reinforce his New Yorker article, writer Simon Parkin then tweeted a photo from Kojima’s leaving do, just to prove that it was actually a “thing”.

Here is a photograph of Kojima's farewell party on October 9th at Konami, which Konami claims no knowledge of: pic.twitter.com/xgRUoYs5qt

— Simon Parkin (@SimonParkin) October 20, 2015

Since rumours suggest that Kojima’s contract with Konami expires in December, it is conceivable that he is seeing out the remainder of his time with the company by using up his leave. Konami has not yet responded to questions regarding Kojima’s supposed return from his “vacation”.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia