Konami has denied the New Yorker’s report that Hideo Kojima has parted ways with the company, insisting he is just on vacation.
Yesterday, we ran a story from the New Yorker claiming to have spoken to several inside sources confirming that Hideo Kojima has parted ways with previous employer Konami. It all made a lot of sense, since rumors of his imminent departure have been swirling for quite some time, and Konami had been making quite an effort to erase his existence from the company. But surprisingly, a spokesperson at Konami’s Tokyo headquarters has flat-out denied the New Yorker story, claiming that Kojima is still an employee at Konami, and is just “on vacation”.
“Currently, Kojima and the development team are finished developing Metal Gear Solid V and are taking a long time off from work,” said the spokesperson. When asked about the farewell party mentioned in the New Yorker article, the spokesperson replied “We’re not sure what kind of thing this was.”
In rebuttal, Simon Parkin, the author of the original New Yorker piece, Tweeted the following photograph of the farewell party:
Here is a photograph of Kojima's farewell party on October 9th at Konami, which Konami claims no knowledge of: pic.twitter.com/xgRUoYs5qt— Simon Parkin (@SimonParkin) October 20, 2015
“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,” Konami insisted. Sources close to the matter have reported that Kojima has signed a non-compete clause until December, which may be the reason Konami is flat-out denying he has left.
Either way, it’s all very odd. I guess we will know for sure in December.
Source: Kotaku
