Hideo Kojima is Starting His Own Studio

News of the schism between Konami and Metal Gear Solid mastermind Hideo Kojima has been slow to come in, but the evidence has largely suggested that since rumours of his departure began circulating in October, he’s been doing all he can to distance himself from the hulking company, and them from him. His name was stripped from the box art and promotional site for Metal Gear Solid V, his own internal production company suffered huge layoffs and he was even barred from accepting an award in LA for the game.  At the first hint of his leaving, Konami vehemently insisted that he was just ‘on vacation’, but there’s no getting around it now, he’s gone for good.

Exactly what it was that prompted him to leave is unclear, Kojima is nothing if not mercurial, but anxious fans can rest easy, as reports have confirmed that Kojima is starting his own development company alongside several other former Konami staffers. Supposedly they’ve been in talks with Sony about getting their debut title published on Playstation platforms. It’s probably a fair suggestion that Kojima was frustrated with the lack of creative freedom offered by Konami towards the end of his tenure, most notably the axing of the collaborative Silent Hill project he was supposed to be working on with Guillermo Del Toro (who was also none too pleased about the cancellation). It’s worth remembering that Konami won’t be overly upset about this, gaming is only one small facet of a much larger business, it might seem big to us, but they pull in a great deal more revenue from the gambling machines they build in Japan. Go figure.

What exactly he’ll be producing under this as yet unnamed banner is a total mystery, but the idea of a Hideo Kojima working with almost absolute creative autonomy is bound to get a lot of people salivating. Obviously, Konami retain all the rights to anything involving Solid Snake, so don’t expect any box sneaking, in fact it would probably be better to completely curtail any notion that the games made by this new studio will be anywhere similar to Kojima’s previous work. Fly, Hideo, fly free like the beautiful, twisted butterfly you were always meant to be!

Some of the coverage you find on Cultured Vultures contains affiliate links, which provide us with small commissions based on purchases made from visiting our site. We cover gaming news, movie reviews, wrestling and much more.