The New Yorker yesterday published a story reporting that Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima parted ways with Konami earlier this month. The Tokyo based game company is denying this report, saying that Hideo Kojima is still an employee and is currently “on vacation.”
According to Tokyo Sports, a spokesperson at Konami’s Tokyo headquarters said, “Currently, Kojima is a listed as a company employee [at Konami].”
Konami denied that he has left the company. “Currently, Kojima and the development team are finished developing Metal Gear Solid V and are taking a long time off from work.”
When asked about the farewell party, Konami replied, “We’re not sure what kind of thing this was.”
This pretext of a “vacation” could be a way for a long fade out, but Konami insisted, “Because the development time for console games is so long and fatigues builds up, it’s common for employees to take extended periods of time of when development is finished.”
Kotaku reached out to Konami for clarification, but did not hear back before publication.
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24 responses to “Konami Denies Hideo Kojima Has Left, Says He’s ‘On Vacation’”
Wow. As if it wasn’t enough for them to have already made themselves look like the most blitheringly moronic developers in the business AND the biggest assholes, now they’re intent on showing themselves as utterly deluded and out of touch with reality too! Can Konami possibly get any lower?
Oh who am I kidding. It’s Konami. They put more effort into setting new low standards of idiocy than they ever did into any of their games- and once upon a time they put a LOT of effort into some of their classic games, so you can imagine how bad they are now.
I started to dislike konami after they cancelled silent hills pt. I mean, I bought ps4 so that I could play that game! But now that it’s cancelled, my reactions were the same as Mr del torro, “what the F*ck konami?!”
As I recall, Forrest Gump’s dad was also “on vacation”, and was never seen again.
What is the difference between Forrest Gump and Konami?
Forrest Gump was likable.
Forrest runs forwards, Konami runs into the ground?
Konami are more retarded.
He’s “on vacation” with my dog “at the farm”
He’s pining for the fjords.
Kojima is an EX EMPLOYEE!
Yeah, just like that guy on the floor with a hole in his chest isn’t dead – he’s just sleeping.
Oh, I almost forgot…
Fuck you, Konami.
I get the feeling that someone at Konami realised that, with Kojima’s departure, the company has lost the last shred of relevance it had, so they’re now attempting to delude both themselves and the rest of the world into thinking that their star developer is still around.
Lol Development of Metal Gear wasn’t even complete.
His body has been stuffed into a Castlevania branded Pachinko Machine that now is currently residing somewhere in Akihabara.
So that’s where Scott Cawthon got the idea…..
Five Nights at Konami!
Hehehehe. I can imagine it now.
Playing 20/20/20/20 mode takes away Snake’s box making it harder to hide, :-P.
Could this all be just some ruse from Kojima and Konami? Could Kojima still actually be working with Konami and that they have parted ways? Kojima does tend to mess with people often.
Not likely, a company wouldn’t be willing to drag their own name so low through the mud just for a bit of trolling.
My guess is they will gather a great big pay check and wave it front of Kojima in hopes he returns and confirms that he was just on holidays.
His response will depend on how badly he needs the money (I’m sure there will be lots of other offers coming his way), and how desperate he is to make mobile games and/or pachinko machines 😛
Until his non-competition clause ends in December he is still theirs… Sorta.
*facepalm*
They’re quite likely right! In government here, that’s how many employees retire. They take their paid vacation first rather than have it paid out in a lump sum, then they simply don’t come back. The actual ‘end date’ of a position can be months after the employee has functionally left. It’s all accounting and numbers.
Being technically correct about something that will eventually change once their lawyers tell them for the nth time that they can’t stop this from happening is utterly pointless and a little embarrassing.
Just like a previous job of mine where i’d not taken annual leave… I was intending on quitting, but had two months of leave built up, so I took my outstanding leave, started a new job, and handed in my resignation for the previous job at the appropriate time.
Technically I was still employed and “on leave”, but I already had both feet out the door.
Let’s just say he went for a long stroll through the woods. Now, there MAY be bears in those woods. Not saying there are. There could also be some snakes, and/or falling branches or rocks.