What’s Happening with Kojima?
On March 19th, controversy struck when Hideo Kojima’s name and Kojima Productions were taken off of the Konami’s website. Following this, it was soon discovered that Kojima and those working with him on MGSV Phantom Pain would no longer be working with Konami after their contracts ended in December, after the game’s large release. The next day, a list of job advertisements put out by Konami showed up online, making it clear that the Metal Gear Solid franchise will continue — without Kojima.
On the 25th of March, Konami announced that the Kojima Station Broadcast, which was set to go live the following day, had been cancelled. Following this, the company makes yet another announcement stating that Kojima would see MGSV out to the end, though they did not state whether this would be with him under employment or simply a contract.
The 31st brought another highly anticipated game into question. Konami pulled Kojima Studio’s logo off of the Silent Hill website. While at the time it was stated to be part of “rebranding efforts” this continues as a blow to the franchise’s fans, who were eagerly awaiting release after the terrifying P.T. demo was released. On the 25th of April, Konami pulled P.T. off of the Playstation store, eventually canceling the project officially on the 29th.
Kojima and Guillermo Del Toro fans have not completely lost hope. As of July, the pair have stated that even if the project is not part of the Silent Hill franchise, they are still friends and hope to collaborate in the near future.
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain released on September first of 2015 to 179 million dollars on its first day of sale, according to the Adobe Digital Index Report.
For a while, things were quiet. Konami enjoyed its success, Kojima waited in the shadows, biding his time much like… Well. You know.
The controversy continues with Konami’s decision to ban Kojima from the Video Game awards, regardless of the fact that MGSV was nominated for Game of the Year, Best Art Direction, Best Score, Best Action/Adventure game, and Kojima’s own studio was nominated for developer of the year. Fans quickly turned against Konami, outraged at the gaming giant’s decision to bar Kojima from the awards and even sending someone to accept the award on his behalf.
But we are not done here. It was announced on January 5th that Kojima would be inducted into the Gaming Hall of Fame. Of course, who better to present him with this award than Guillermo del Toro?
