Game designer and Metal Gear godfather Hideo Kojima is apparently still working for Konami, in contrast to reports of his firing. Or so, Konami now claims.
A New Yorker article this week cited an anonymous source who claimed to have attended Kojima’s own farewell party at the company in which over a hundred of his closest peers saw him off from the company for good. In a statement published in Tokyo Sports translated by Kotaku, a spokesperson from Konami’s Tokyo headquarters stated that, “Currently, Kojima is listed as a company employee [at Konami].”
Konami also denied that he has left the company, stating:
“Currently, Kojima and the development team are finished developing Metal Gear Solid V and are taking a long time off from work.”
While we have no idea what Konami defines as a “vacation” in the long-term, they insist that, “because the development time for console games is so long and fatigue builds up, it’s common for employees to take extended periods of time off when development is finished.”
https://twitter.com/SimonParkin/status/656381596094828544/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
By contrast, the author of the New Yorker article, Simon Parkin, posted what he described as a bonafide photograph of Kojima’s farewell party that took place Friday, October 9th, at Konami headquarters, which you can see above. When asked about the farewell party in question, Konami replied, “We’re not sure what kind of thing this was.”
Whatever event Kojima partook in, it follows five years of work on the $80 million Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, which earned only the highest honors from us. According to sources Kotaku and The New Yorker, Kojima’s contract with the company expires in December, leaving the designer only a few more months to set a new course.