Earlier today, The New Yorker published a story reporting that Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima parted ways with Konami earlier this month. The Tokyo based game company is denying this report, saying that Hideo Kojima is still an employee and is currently “on vacation.”
Update 7:32am - The author of The New Yorker piece, Simon Parkin, tweeted a photo (below) of what he maintains is the farewell party. Of course, it could be a get together before a long vacation or just another entry in the seemingly strange goings on at Konami.
According to Tokyo Sports, a spokesperson at Konami’s Tokyo headquarters said, “Currently, Kojima is listed as a company employee [at Konami].”
Konami denied that he has left the company. “Currently, Kojima and the development team are finished developing Metal Gear Solid V and are taking a long time off from work.”
When asked about the farewell party, Konami replied, “We’re not sure what kind of thing this was.”
This pretext of a “vacation” could be a way for a long fade out, but Konami insisted, “Because the development time for console games is so long and fatigue builds up, it’s common for employees to take extended periods of time off when development is finished.”
A source close to Konami previously told Kotaku that Kojima’s contract ends this December.
Kotaku reached out to Konami for clarification, but did not hear back before publication.
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