Changes for Kojima at Konami? (RUMOR)

So there's all sorts of concern and rumor based on different bits of evidence that Kojima has left Konami (or will be).

They renamed the LA studio he opened as to a generic Konami name (Konami LA Studios) and apparently have taken his studio's logo off of MGSV marketing materials as well.

Konami did issue this statement:

"Konami Digital Entertainment, including Mr. Kojima, will continue to develop and support Metal Gear products. Please look forward to future announcements."

http://www.videogamer.com/ps4/metal_gear_solid_5_the_phantom_pain/news/konami_responds_to_hideo_kojima_exit_rumours.html

Maybe they think he's leaving and just want to kind of take his name off of everything? Not sure but I guess something to keep your eye on. He is still supposed to be making Silent Hill there too. Maybe nothing happens for a while but I feel like there's smoke around so has to be a fire somewhere...

EDIT: Just another small example, the Kojima Productions twitter changing to be simply a MGS franchise twitter account:

NeoGAF community has done a good job of rounding up a bunch of evidence. http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1013350

That doesn't really seem that weird/concerning. If he does leave, I guess that he meant it when he said that MGSV was his final Metal Gear game. Could be a good chance for him to do new stuff. I'm interested, regardless of what happens next.

Of course, this could all mean absolutely nothing, and is just weird business-keeping stuff.

Well I think you summed up why MGS fans would be concerned right in your first two sentences.

I love the series and would be fine with him doing something else but I'd miss him working on it and it would be strange to see the series continue (which I'm sure it would).

Huh... Maybe he meant it this time when he stated that this will be his last MGS. I hope this isn't a sign of bad things happening over at Kojima Productions.

What's most interesting is that they've removed all "A Hideo Kojima Game" lines from past games and collections like Ground Zeroes and The MGS Legacy Collection as well. That right there is what kinda makes the whole thing weird. It doesn't seem like it's a simple studio restructuring.

Seriously you guys.

It's Hideo Kojima.

He promoted his new game as Joakim whatever-the-fuck. A guy with a bandaged fucking face getting interview by Geoff Keighley straight.

On the release of every Metal Gear game he says it's probably his last.

There's an article on the front page of wwe.com that asks "Is This John Cena's Final Wrestlemania Ever?" It's almost as if they're promoting an event.

Do you think this is John Cena's last Wrestlemania?

Do you think this is Hideo Kojima's last Metal Gear?

HMMM. I CAN'T HELP BUT NOTICE THIS IS SUPPOSED TO GO INTO EFFECT ON APRIL1ST.

You guys are suckers.

@n7: You mean the start of Konami's next financial year? So... It actually might mean something.

And editing all existing pr material and the games themselves, and renaming studios and websites and Twitter feeds seems like a bit much, even for Kojima.

Oh, you mean the start of the new fiscal year in Japan?

@n7: So they are removing Hideo Kojima's name from all his games 2 weeks prior to April Fool's? That's now how you April Fool's.

@n7: That stuff doesn't work that way. And it's not April first today even if it did. Something is happening, whether is actually means anything significant or if its just a bunch of renaming remains to be seen.

I really hope he sticks around for Silent Hills, and maybe makes some follow ups to that. I'd love to see what that dude would do with horror, especially after P.T. (The real 2014 GOTY)

I don't think they can take his name off the game his studio developed without some serious legal wrangling.

Konami Rumor?

@humanity: Sure they can. Konami owns MGS, not Kojima Studios.

Remember when Capcom removed Kamiya and Clover Studios of the Okami games?

This does remind me: What do Konami have aside from MGS... I don't think Pro Evo sells as well as it once did.

Good for him, if he is leaving. Let him do something new, whether that's going indie, western or just making an actual movie.

Not sure I'd care for a Metal Gear game without Kojima somehow involved, though at the same time I wouldn't blame him for leaving. It's not like a break from the franchise would hurt anyone except for Konami.

I don't remember that but its pretty weird. Surely at this point Kojima must have wrestled some IP ownership over to his side. I don't really know how this stuff looks legally but it seems weird that the publisher can all but erase any contributions from the developer as they please.

@humanity: It sucks but it happens. I mean, with movies you get incidents where, like with Dirty Work, they film and plan the movie for an R rating then it gets cut into a PG-13 because the studio wants it that way. Or with Blade Runner, the studio inserted the narration in the theatrical release by their decision because they thought the movie was too confusing without it (the narration was not at all in Ridley Scott's plans).

Different sorts of examples, but in the end just shows these companies call the shots over the creators many times. Removing your name from something is a kind of a crazy thing of its own but I'm sure that's happened before too in different media. I'm sure Konami owns all the rights. That goes own in Western games mostly and I'm sure doubly so in Japan with how things tend to operate there. Kojima is a rarity there being such a big personality with the clout to name a studio after himself and give himself movie director type billing on a game box.

Hopefully, this means Kojima can work on something cool and new. And hopefully it lights a fire under Konami's ass to make something new and different too.

I bet he told them he wasn't going to do MGS anymore, and the trade-off to that was he had to rename the studio to something else.

He always said he wanted to be done with MGS, but he was working on Silent Hills. So I can't imagine that his studio is being shut down. Also I'm pretty sure you can't just remove a companies name and logo, pretty sure that's illegal. So they must be rebranding.

@n7: Capcom removed all mention of Clover from Okami HD.

From what I remember the Capcom / Clover split was anything but amicable. Clover was in large part staffed by Capcom talent. When time came to bring it back into Capcom, everyone literally bailed. The Clover staff felt that their creativity was stifled by Capcom, and Capcom basically interpreted that as taking their money and running off.

My hunch is that this is more Konami future-proofing itself and strengthening its own brand. The former because who knows when Kojima decides to retire from development, and the latter because, let's be honest, apart from Metal Gear, Konami hasn't done anything note-worthy the last console generations. When the only important properties are associated more with one studio than your entire company, you've got an image problem.

Also, requisite joke answer: Speaks Japanese, has experience delegating and probably working with freelancers. Kojima for GBEast News Editor.

How great would it be if Kojima left Konami to work at Moby Dick Studios?

Sure, I'd definitely miss him, but I think Metal Gear Rising proved that the series could totally work without him(though I realize that's a vastly different game). He's been wanting other people to take it on for years now, so it'd be nice for his dreams to finally come to fruition. Solid Snake/Big Boss's story is done. This is the perfect time for new blood to come in.

This seems like a rebranding kind of thing to improve Konami's name or they're preparing for some kind of joke. I can't take this in a Kojima is moving on from Konami sort of way unless there is some definitive evidence that points to it being the case.

For all we know Konami offered him a raise, pay bump, even more control or freedom, or continue use of resources in exchange for having his name being featured less.

@quarters: I don't disagree but as a big MGS fan, Rising was pretty fun (mostly because of gameplay) but if that's the series going forward I'm not that interested. I would be interested to see Kojima do something new though.

Why did they change all the graphics on their website, before getting a statement out about things? This is only bad for their brand with all these rumours floating around, makes it look like a hot mess..

Also; if this somehow negatively affects Silent Hills I will be seriously pissed off :[

Yeah pretty much just this. Kojima/Guillermo del Toro working on a Silent Hill game was basically a weird magical combination of a lot of things I loved and if it gets screwed up now I'm just going to feel hollow and dead inside.

@humanity said:

When Capcom made Okami HD, they removed a lot of references to Clover from the original game, including the logo from the credits and the intro. I am sure they are aware that a Kojimaless MGS would sell a lot less, but they have the legal rights to it if they chose to.

OT: I don't think this is more than an attempt at rebranding the studio. Given the propensity of a) Kojima to troll the community, and b) the community to second guess a lot of Kojima's moves; I tend to be really suspicious of stuff like this. Given that Kojima is the closest to a rock star from Konami, to the point they attach his name to other franchises (Silent Hill and Castlevania) to improve sales, I have serious doubts they are trying to pull a move on him without people realizing it.

Kojima: This will be my last Metal Gear

Konami: Okay, we'll call your bluff.

@artisanbreads: I figure while MGR will continue(given the recent hint in that one video), I don't think that Konami would leave it at that. I'm sure someone would make a more traditional, stealth based game. Also, Kojima is really wanting them to keep using Fox Engine for everything, so Phantom Pain will give them a fantastic base to work with to create new games.

At first I was thinking this was just another Kojima trick, and he just wanted to start April Fools a little early, but renaming other studios is a bit much even for him.

Hopefully this isn't a sign that development of MGSV has gone awry and that game is going to suffer from it.

RIP Konami. They are nothing without Kojima.

Well, shit.

A fallout between Kojima Productions and its owning publisher, Konami, has led to senior staff at the studio being restricted access to corporate internet, emails, and phone, GameSpot understands.

Along with the restricted communications, key developers at the studio, such as Hideo Kojima, will now have limited opportunities to lend their appearance to promotions of the studio’s upcoming game, Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain.

Power struggles between Kojima Productions and Konami have convinced the publisher to make drastic changes, including amending the employee status of its Metal Gear team. Some senior staff at the studio, including Kojima, now essentially work as contractors, not permanent employees.

Konami will be fine, Metal Gear will be fine (turns out a lot of people loved Rising), Kojima will probably be fine.

Silent Hills and Metal Gear Online? Fucked.

Well there goes the only reason I still gave a shit about Konami. That's super unfortunate, but I doubt Kojima will have a hard time finding work.

You think "alot of people loved" is enough for a AAA franchise?

The more I read about this stuff, the shittier it gets. Hopefully MGSV ends up well, and if Kojima and co get kicked out, that they all land on their feet. Kojima himself will do fine, but he's not the only one.

Why would companies care about AAA franchises? It's a stupid way to do business. Konami would rather funnel their money into what they know makes money (their fitness and casino ventures) than gamble the insane cost of development this gen hoping they get their money back. Metal Gear would probably make the money back, but Silent Hills? Come on.

Oh man, this is unbelievably tragic

Konami is self destructing before our eyes. Once Kojima is gone, they literally have nothing left in the console space

Really the all the great Japanese gaming companies have been going this way since 2010 or so. It's the end of an era.

Capcom, Square and Nintendo are about all that's left of the great Japanese Publishers now and all three of those are a bit shaky themselves.

The executive producer of the Love Plus and Tokimeki Memorial games just left Konami on Monday too.

SHIT IS GOING DOWN