Hideo Kojima continues to not seem long for Konami employment after the conclusion of his legendary series.
The long, winding, murky situation that is Konami’s restructuring goals seems to be, once again, pushing out one of their greatest assets. Glamour shots of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain were uploaded to various retailers and outlets with a few changes that NeoGAF posters, among others, noticed. Observe for yourself with the new box art (right) and the old (left) below.
The noticeable differences begin at the top where “A Hideo Kojima Game” is now absent, followed by the deletion of the Kojima Productions logo in the bottom left. What seems interesting about this sudden shift is that we’ve gone through this before; earlier this year had this exact same situation crop up with Konami eventually changing course again, re-inserting the creator’s name on older Metal Gear Solid titles.
Konami has had the spotlight upon them over this entire situation for most of the year now, and this isn’t the only recent incident to up the wattage. The voice actor for Snake in Japanese, Akio Otsuka, placed the blame entirely on the video game company, saying, “Kojima Productions was forced to disband.” He even seemed unsure if there would be other Metal Gear entries after this dissolving even as Konami has promised an ongoing commitment to the franchise beyond Phantom Pain.
Throughout most of this, Hideo Kojima himself has either been silent or solely focused on the extensive game he and his team are tasked to complete. Many sources, including Akio Otsuka, have defended the standards of quality at Kojima Productions, saying in essence that this game is being treated as their masterpiece and the corporate side won’t affect the final product.
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is coming to PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One and Xbox 360 on September 1st, then PC on September 15. What’s next for Hideo Kojima and his company is currently an unknown.
(Source: IGN)
