A lot of news has been spreading around the past week about Hideo Kojima leaving Konami.
Normally this would be done and over with, but Konami continues to deny that he has left; saying that he’s just “taking an extended vacation”.
However, employees of Konami have tweeted that Kojima has even had a going away party, with pictures to boot! The New Yorker magazine also reports that Hideo no longer works at Konami and that he will be able to start working for other game companies come December.
Personally, I believe that Hideo no longer works at Konami. From a gaming standpoint, I see no reason why he would be there. Yes, he is a shareholder in the company. But by the same token he is a game designer, and with Konami getting out of the “Triple-A” game industry to focus all their efforts on the gambling industry, what purpose would Hideo have?
It’s to be noted that Konami Japan is a horrible place to work, if there is any truth to the articles going around, and it’s quite possible for Hideo to get reassigned to a new department where he would be miserable and not be able to make games again. This also could be so that other companies (such as Square Enix) would never be able to hire him, but that is mere speculation on my part. Regardless of what happens, I honestly hope Hideo has left Konami and will continue to make his amazing games at a company that wholly respects his desire to ship only the best titles.
I also honestly believe that Konami has screwed up in rushing Metal Gear Solid V. Yes it is an amazing title and we have reviewed it before, but at the same time it is missing crucial missions…and their effort to make money from adding an online feature really ruins the experience of the actual game. Additionally, they removed story missions important to the timeline, which are only viewable if you bought the Collectors Edition of the game.
There is even speculation that Hideo never got to finish an entire chapter of the game, but again that is just speculation. Regardless of the news going around, I truly do hope Hideo Kojima has left Konami and will pursue making titles elsewhere. I also hope he starts writing on Twitter and responding to these questions, but I suspect Konami has him in some sort of contract that prevents him from speaking out regarding such matters.
An autistic gamer with opinions on games who also enjoys making dumb videos on the internet!