Earlier today, News broke that Hideo Kojima may be leaving/has already left Konami. It all started when Reddit users noticed that Kojima's name was no longer included in the Metal Gear Solid 5 artwork, on top of this any mention of Kojima Productions is no where to be seen.
Kojima Productions Los Angeles has also been renamed to Konami Los Angeles Studio as well as the Kojima Productions website and twitter account changing.
Nothing has yet been officially confirmed although Konami have made a rather weak statement on the matter;
"Konami Digital Entertainment, including Mr. Kojima, will continue to develop and support Metal Gear products," said the company in a statement to Eurogamer. "Please look forward to future announcements."
As you can see it's really not much to go on. IGN did manage manage to get a little more information from a Konami source;
"As we have already announced, we are shifting our production structure to a headquarters-controlled system, in order to establish a steadfast operating base capable of responding to the rapid market changes that surround our digital entertainment business. Konami Digital Entertainment (including Mr. Kojima), will continue to develop and support Metal Gear products. Please look forward to future announcements.”
But once again it's still rather weak in terms of understanding the whole situtation. Kojima himself hasn't made any kind of statement although on his Twitter account last night he posted a MGS image with the caption "Heading Off".
Gamespot's inside source for the studio stated that;
“Once the Phantom Pain project is finished, in all likelihood the management at the studio will disband. After we finish MGSV, Mr. Kojima and upper management will leave Konami. They said their contract ends in December,"
It's all very up in the air at the moment and until an official statement on the full matter is revealed, it's hard to say what the future holds for Kojima Productions and Konami together as well as the forthcoming Silent Hills. Hopefully some good, clear news is revealed soon and we can calm ourselves down and be content with the knowing Silent Hills is going to be ok!
UPDATE
Videogamer managed to get an additional statement from Konami in regards to the matter:
"As we have already announced, we are shifting our production structure to a headquarters-controlled system, in order to establish a steadfast operating base capable of responding to the rapid market changes that surround our digital entertainment business," read the statement. "Konami Digital Entertainment (including Mr. Kojima), will continue to develop and support Metal Gear products. Please look forward to future announcements."
Although once again it doesn't fully explain the situation.
Gamespot editor, Peter Brown posted via Twitter that:
"In regards to the Kojima Productions news and Silent Hills: that game is part of a deal between Del Toro and Konami, not Kojima"
Hopefully this means we have nothing to worry about in regards to Silent Hills, although from what we have seen so far from Kojima, i'm not sure it would necessarily be a good thing without him.
Update 2:
It appears the Kojima Productions logo has now been removed from the P.T website also. Although Konami have made an additional statement on the matter, it offered no insight into the future of Silent Hills.
___
To stay up to date with any developments follow Paradise on Facebook and Twitter. While you're at it check out my friend's updates over at Silent Hill Historical Society.
Kojima Productions Los Angeles has also been renamed to Konami Los Angeles Studio as well as the Kojima Productions website and twitter account changing.
Nothing has yet been officially confirmed although Konami have made a rather weak statement on the matter;
"Konami Digital Entertainment, including Mr. Kojima, will continue to develop and support Metal Gear products," said the company in a statement to Eurogamer. "Please look forward to future announcements."
As you can see it's really not much to go on. IGN did manage manage to get a little more information from a Konami source;
"As we have already announced, we are shifting our production structure to a headquarters-controlled system, in order to establish a steadfast operating base capable of responding to the rapid market changes that surround our digital entertainment business. Konami Digital Entertainment (including Mr. Kojima), will continue to develop and support Metal Gear products. Please look forward to future announcements.”
But once again it's still rather weak in terms of understanding the whole situtation. Kojima himself hasn't made any kind of statement although on his Twitter account last night he posted a MGS image with the caption "Heading Off".
Gamespot's inside source for the studio stated that;
“Once the Phantom Pain project is finished, in all likelihood the management at the studio will disband. After we finish MGSV, Mr. Kojima and upper management will leave Konami. They said their contract ends in December,"
It's all very up in the air at the moment and until an official statement on the full matter is revealed, it's hard to say what the future holds for Kojima Productions and Konami together as well as the forthcoming Silent Hills. Hopefully some good, clear news is revealed soon and we can calm ourselves down and be content with the knowing Silent Hills is going to be ok!
UPDATE
Videogamer managed to get an additional statement from Konami in regards to the matter:
"As we have already announced, we are shifting our production structure to a headquarters-controlled system, in order to establish a steadfast operating base capable of responding to the rapid market changes that surround our digital entertainment business," read the statement. "Konami Digital Entertainment (including Mr. Kojima), will continue to develop and support Metal Gear products. Please look forward to future announcements."
Although once again it doesn't fully explain the situation.
Gamespot editor, Peter Brown posted via Twitter that:
"In regards to the Kojima Productions news and Silent Hills: that game is part of a deal between Del Toro and Konami, not Kojima"
Hopefully this means we have nothing to worry about in regards to Silent Hills, although from what we have seen so far from Kojima, i'm not sure it would necessarily be a good thing without him.
Update 2:
It appears the Kojima Productions logo has now been removed from the P.T website also. Although Konami have made an additional statement on the matter, it offered no insight into the future of Silent Hills.
___
To stay up to date with any developments follow Paradise on Facebook and Twitter. While you're at it check out my friend's updates over at Silent Hill Historical Society.
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