Update: Hideo Kojima confirmed the formation of an independent studio.
A new chapter in the Kojima-Konami debacle has started but for once it’s good news! According to Nikkei, Hideo Kojima has officially departed from Konami and is setting out to create his own studio! No word yet as to what the studio will be called, what type of games he will be making, or if he will continue his work on Silent Hills under a different title.
This story has been developing for almost a year now, it first started to pick up steam when Konami removed Hideo Kojima’s name off Metal Gear Solid V’s box art. People started raising their eyebrows and Konami and Kojima assured people nothing was wrong. A few weeks later Konami pulled P.T. off the PlayStation Store and announced the cancellation of Silent Hills, this clearly indicated that something was happening between Konami and Kojima but it was unclear what might be happening.
In July, it was reported that Hideo Kojima’s studio was disbanded but no official word had come from Konami about the situation. In October, a picture surfaced from a Konami employee showing Kojima at a party. The source said the party was a going away party for Kojima. Konami said they had no idea what the party was for but Kojima was just “going on vacation”. The last thing to happen was earlier this month at The Game Awards when it was revealed that Konami restricted Kojima from attending the awards even though he was a nominee.
Fans have been boycotting Konami and giving Hideo Kojima as much support as they possibly can. So many of us are dying to know what happened between to Kojima and Konami but Kojima most likely had to sign an NDA so we may never know what happened between the two.
Cade is a games journalist, Gaming Writer at ComicBook.com. They contributed 108 articles to ICXM between 2015–2017, focused on opinion pieces, game reviews, and Xbox news: served as Editor-in-Chief at GameZone before joining ComicBook.com.