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Konami has said that Hideo Kojima hasn't left the company. They say that Kojima is instead "on vacation."A representative from Konami's Tokyo HQ issued this statement earlier this morning.
"Currently, Kojima is listed as a company employee [at Konami]. Currently, Kojima and the development team are finished developing Metal Gear Solid V and are taking a long time off from work. 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."
The original source for the above quote (Tokyo-Sports) notes that neither Konami's President Hideki Hayakawa, nor its CEO Sadaaki Kaneyoshi were in attendance at the farewell party. A party, mind you, that Konami claims to have absolutely no knowledge of. The spokesperson for Konami said, "we're not sure what kind of thing that was," when asked about the farewell party.
In response, The New Yorker's Simon Parkin, the author of yesterday's original piece about Kojima leaving, Tweeted out a photo of the farewell party that Konami insists to have no knowledge of. At least, that's what he's claiming this is a photograph of.
Look Konami, we know he's gone. We know he's been let go. On the books, he could very well be using up saved vacation days and is "on vacation" until December but if the man is no longer going to step foot inside those offices again, I think it's pretty clear what the reality is. Stop beating around the bush already.
Ok when I said we can't say no to that, I meant most of us. The majority who impacts their sales figures. Personally I'll just see if a reviewer (who isn't bribed) will say yay or nay. Sigh, if only we had an unbiased Metal Gear fan who is also a journalist running on a simple to understand 5 point scale giving detailed analysis on pros and cons... Is there ANYBODY who fits that description? Because that's the only review I will trust... SIIIIIIIIGH... Oh wait.