hasn't been done in video games before...it would seem in character for something he might do ... and then we have this...

http://www.pcgamer.com/konami-denies-report-of-kojimas-official-departure/

This is rather hilarious ... I don't know what to think now. It could simply be the company blowing smoke but kojima is weird ...

What if there never was an Kojima.

Kojima is weird. Konami are a company. Konami are not weird. There's no smoke and mirrors, Konami aren't going to pull away a curtain and reveal this was all a big ruse this whole time and that as we look on the REAL MGS V is being installed on our consoles and PCs.

Konami isn't Kojima's personal property to toy around with and use in elaborate ruses. My guess to why he got away with stuff like lying in the MGS2 trailers, "Moby Dick" and "no home for Hideo" before with his own games was because it was just that, his own games, his own studio, in the bowels of Konami who where more interested in other matters.

No, just no. Furthermore, the article that PC Gamer refers to doesn't even cite a source for this alleged denial. It just says, "A Konami rep." In addition to that, multinational corporations like Konami don't play practical jokes like this that could conceivably cost them vast sums of money, customers, and who knows what else.

I get that people don't want the era of Metal Gear and Kojima to be over, but it is. It's best to just accept it and move on and be thankful that we have all the games to play that we do.

@jesus_phish said:

But maybe this is exactly what they want you to think!!!

But... what if Joakim Mogren is actually CG?

What if all this talk of there being something more to MGSV is just crazy, desperate people looking for something that isn't there?

The mind boggles.

@shagge: and he's voiced by Elvis and mocapped by JFK Jr.

Let it go, man.

It sounds like Konami trying to keep people from running away screaming from the company. It's like..what was that movie...Weekend at Bernie's? or something like that. No really! Kojima's still here...see! *moves around life size puppet of Kojima* We still make games! Pachinko is a game...right?

When the first reports of Kojima leaving and Kojima Productions being closed and some other small stuff with Konami started to show up months before MGSV came out, I thought it was another one of his tricks and Konami was helping him with that, but after so many reports and in-depth news stories and so on, there's no way all of this is all a ruse. Sorry.

Kojima, as a person that is fond of elaborate ruses to create word of mouth, might do something like that...

Konami, as a publicly owned company whose stock might be negatively affected by such a ruse, would never do something like that...

So no, the chances of being a PR stunt are negligible...

It just seems like konami is backpedalling or doing damage control after the bad press (and apparent financial success of mgsv)

Well they do, its called PR tricks and Kojima/Konami especially are famous for doing it which is the reason for all these speculations.

What if Kojima was David Hayter all along?

@rethla: Kojima played those tricks. I doubt the higher ups at Konami paid much attention to what he was doing apart from looking at the budgets. I doubt Kojima went to the board of directors and explained in great detail why it was so important for him to do a bait and switch with MGS2's advertising. And if he did, the board of directors probably all just glazed over their eyes and started thinking about how much money this lunatic was costing them.

@jesus_phish: Well yeh but why wouldnt that still be the case?

What if this had already been theorized about half a billion times, and every single time it sounds a little more stupid

@rethla: Because when Kojima was putting out silly trailers it was him putting them out. He wasn't dragging Konami into it. It was just crazy old Kojima.

Like @mike said, Konami are a huge multinational corporation. They don't play jokes like this. They don't get involved in the silliness of Kojima. There's a difference between putting out a silly trailer for MGS2 that made us all think we'd be playing as Snake and pretending that you removed one of your board of directors, got in a huge internal fight him him and then cancelled his games and then didn't fire him just to turn around on stage next year at E3 or something and say "aha!!! gotcha! here's silent hills" or something.

Konami are too involved this time around for them to be playing games. They were never involved before because they didn't care other than how much stuff cost.

Remember when The Nikkei published that piece about the horrible working conditions at Konami? Remember when people started trying to use the #fuckonami hashtag? No sane company would want that to happen. This is all bait and no switch because the bait is just the business reality. It's actually kind of perfect.

Tarnishing your reputation and earning fan distrust are not an ARG.

@onarum: This might come as a shock to you but everything about Metal Gear and Kojima has always been stupid and fans all over love it.

@jesus_phish:Well im not exactly updated on this story but as far as im aware the only official statement from Konami is... silence. Kojima is on vacation and Konami is gonna continue producing MGS content.

MGSV has a lot of cut content. MGS2 had cut content too. It's not some crazy conspiracy, it's what happens when you tell a crazy person like Kojima that they have to actually release a game at some point.

Parasites can't melt steel beams.

This is kinda like the boy who cried wolf, Kojima has been claiming "this" was his last metal gear game since like MGS2 or something. The first game on the fox engine was NOT a metal gear game(it was totally a metal gear game), phantom pain was made by some new studio and had nothing to do with metal gear (nope it's totally metal gear V). Now it's Kojima is leaving Konami after 30 or so years, "yeah right Kojima!" *wink*

I think it would be amazing if this was a huge troll and MGS5 came out next year, but it's not Konami just doesn't give a shit about games anymore.

PLEASE STOP

What if Kojima was actually an AI, and it just went rampant.

What if Kojima himself is actually Frog Fractions 2??

Kojima Announces Kickstarter At Keighley Awards: Frog Fractions 2 2016 Confirmed

I don't know. This all sounds like standard Asian business-ness. Asian companies don't like the idea of straight up admitting to firing people because it makes them look bad, so often all you'll hear is "Oh, yeah, that guy went on vacation then decided to quit" when in reality it was management pulling strings all along.

Kojima is a guy that occasionally uses deceptive marketing to hide video game plot twists.

This does not make him a super-villain capable of some real-world Xanatos Gambit.

@wikitoups:

Seriously,I can't take this anymore.

Be game over.

Ok sorry for bringing this up as it seems to have been discussed to death elsewhere I just saw the story and usually have found PC Gamer to be a reputable site for such things. Thinking about what I know about Japanese business culture this does sound like something a Japanese business would do. When ever someone is arrested for a crime they are always unemployed because when ever someone is arrested for a crime they are immediately fired so the dishonor doesn't rub off on the company. All I know about Metal Gear I honestly learned through Metal Gear Scanlon so I didn't grow up with the hi jinks involved. This was my first experience with any real proof or speculation that it was a ruse. Kojima does seem like an Asian Andy Kaufman in some ways, but it is probably true that a Japanese business, which is likely very conservative, would not do something like this. Or at least if they were would have owned up about it by now. This being damage control to help keep the stock price up is much more likely.

It's not his trick...

IT'S HIS ILLUSION!!!!!!!!!!!

"There are no facts, only interpretations." - Friedrich Nietzsche

What if I'm Frog Fractions 2? Or you? We could go on all day.

I read that first sentence as Revolver Ocelot.

What if we're Konami?

Now go... BRING THE LEGEND BACK TO LIFE!

You do not bend the spoon...the spoon bends you.

Lyrically relevant

Now we just need to wait for the non-Kojima Metal Gear and everyone will say they wish it had ended with V.

If so, then hopefully we'll get the rest of the game someday.

They'll patch in an ending where Edward Snowden is talking to his grandkids.

"Tell us more tales of the Snake."

@mr_misery: FUCK!...

Note that Kojima designates himself as "Diplomat" in the game. Maybe that's a hint that this so called "vacation" is his plan to set up a peace conference with Konami and get on with plans for MGS6.

why would he stay when Konami is going strictly mobile gaming?