Prior to the show, Keighley had said he talked with Kojima and expressed hope that he would show up, but evidently he found out the news prior to the show that he was banned from coming. Nikkei suggested that Kojima will develop games for Sony’s PlayStation consoles with negotiations already underway with Sony, but there wasn’t any mention of his games being outright exclusive.
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Issues between Konami and Kojima have been well-reported throughout the year, which saw the release of Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain in September and the cancellation of Kojima’s Silent Hills collaboration with film director Guillermo del Toro.
The original story is below.
Even if Kojima is gone and his former studio shuttered, it appears that Konami may continue the Metal Gear series without him.
We’ll let you know if Konami, Kojima, or Sony responds to any questions for comment about Nikkei’s report. According to the paper, Kojima is looking at forming a new development studio with former Kojima Productions members.
GameSpot has contacted Konami and Sony in an attempt to get more details. When asked why he did this, Keighley replied, “I wanted him to know that we were thinking of him”.
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As for why all of this played out like it did? Konami still owns the rights to the franchise but has expressed interest in moving away from traditional game development to focus on Japanese gambling machines.
