Report: Kojima Finally Leaves Konami To Start His Own Studio

[gf78]

http://www.polygon.com/2015/12/15/10220372/hideo-kojima-new-studio-leaves-konami

"Metal Gear series creator Hideo Kojima has officially left Konami as of Dec. 15, according to a report from Japan's Nikkei.

According to Nikkei, Kojima is establishing a new studio and is in talks with PlayStation maker Sony Computer Entertainment.

In October, The New Yorker reported that Kojima was leaving Konami and that his non-compete clause would end in December. Konami refuted the report, saying that Kojima was still an employee.

Kojima's relationship with Konami began to show strain in March, when the publisher announced a corporate restructuring and removed Kojima Productions' branding from Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain promotional materials. The following month, Konami canceled Kojima's collaboration with Guillermo del Toro, Silent Hills, suggesting further turmoil. Later, in July, Kojima Productions was reportedly disbanded.

Polygon has reached out to Konami for comment on Nikkei's report and will update with any new details."

So much for the Microsoft rumors.   

[kmacdw]

"After a year full of rumors, the Kojima/Konami saga appears to be coming to a close, with the Japanese newspaper Nikkei reporting that Hideo Kojima’s time with the company has finally ended.

The legendary designer, best known for developing the Metal Gear Solid series, will reportedly start his own studio with other former Konami staff. Nikkei reports that Kojima and crew are in negotiations with Sony to debut their first game on PlayStation platforms, according to a translation by NeoGAF user Zefah (and corroborated by Japanese-speaking Wired editor Chris Kohler.)

This news comes after a seemingly endless saga of reports about Konami mistreating Kojima. Earlier this month, Game Awards host Geoff Keighley fired shots at Konami for not letting the celebrated game designer come to Los Angeles and accept an award for his most recent game, Metal Gear Solid V. We’ve reached out to Konami many, many times for comment on all this, and we pinged them again today about this news.

You may have seen a GameSpot tweet and report suggesting that Kojima is forming a studio with Sony; that report is based on a mistranslation and is not what Nikkei reported."

Sauce: http://kotaku.com/report-kojima-finally-leaves-konami-to-start-his-own-s-1748162428

Glad he's starting his own studio. I wouldn't be surprised to see his studio work similar to Platinum; offering exclusives for each platform.

[desocietas]

Haha, this and this other topic: http://vgcollect.com/forum/index.php/topic,6718.0/topicseen.html

were created within seconds of each other. Maybe an admin can merge them?

[ignition365]

Could happen.  Inafune-san does that exact thing.  I could also see this simply as, his first day being able to try to find a publisher and Sony happens to be the first company he is speaking with, or at least the first company we are hearing about.  Time will tell I'm sure.

[rayne315]

I personally do not care which company Kojima ends up with wether that be sony, Nintendo, or Microsoft, but one thing is for certain whoever gets Kojima will see a large bump in system sales on the announcement and whenever his first game gets released. if not more often than that.

[gf78]

It makes the most sense for Kojima to partner with Sony.  Sony has consistently shown they are willing to take chances on new IPs throughout their 21 years of PlayStation.  Hideo would most likely be given his own, new studio and if Sony has the slightest hint of intelligence in their head, they will do their best to get him exclusively for a long, long time.

And anyone thinking Kojima's next game-whatever platform(s) it ends up on-is going to be a stealth game is nuts.  He's been creatively burned out for over a decade, saying that "this is my last Metal Gear game" since MGS2.  Konami kept roping him back into it.  I expect something completely different for his first post-Konami title.

[kashell]

I'm not surprised. Konami started "actin' a fool" and things like this were bound to happen.

[ignition365]

It makes the most sense for Kojima to partner with Sony.  Sony has consistently shown they are willing to take chances on new IPs throughout their 21 years of PlayStation.  Hideo would most likely be given his own, new studio and if Sony has the slightest hint of intelligence in their head, they will do their best to get him exclusively for a long, long time.

And anyone thinking Kojima's next game-whatever platform(s) it ends up on-is going to be a stealth game is nuts.  He's been creatively burned out for over a decade, saying that "this is my last Metal Gear game" since MGS2.  Konami kept roping him back into it.  I expect something completely different for his first post-Konami title.

Kojima already started his own studio, he's either looking for a publisher, talking exclusivity, etc.

I think Kojima still wants to go into the survival horror area.

[scarface88fg]

It's about freakin' time Kojima left...

[gf78]

Kojima already started his own studio, he's either looking for a publisher, talking exclusivity, etc.

I think Kojima still wants to go into the survival horror area.

Whatever the man and his associates decides to make, I'm sure it will be entertaining.  Snatcher, Policenauts, Metal Gear, Boktai and Zone of the Enders were all fantastic and/or highly regarded.  The first Castlevania Lords of Shadow that he had a hand in was great.

On a side note, anyone remember those pictures that were tweeted with Kojima and Sony's Yushida? 

[gf78]

Konami had a gag order on him.  Now that he is free, I hope to see an interview where he can tell his side of the story. 

The implosion of Konami has been nothing short of spectacular.  From a business standpoint, I can see that their electronic games division isn't making the money it used to and the lure of cheap mobile games and pachinko machines is alluring to investors and shareholders. 

But I'm kina numb at this point.  The Konami I know and loved since the NES days is gone.  No more Contra.  No more Castlevania.  No more Metal Gear.  No more Silent Hill.  No more everything they made that was good. 

[argyle]

It makes the most sense for Kojima to partner with Sony.  Sony has consistently shown they are willing to take chances on new IPs throughout their 21 years of PlayStation.  Hideo would most likely be given his own, new studio and if Sony has the slightest hint of intelligence in their head, they will do their best to get him exclusively for a long, long time.

And anyone thinking Kojima's next game-whatever platform(s) it ends up on-is going to be a stealth game is nuts.  He's been creatively burned out for over a decade, saying that "this is my last Metal Gear game" since MGS2.  Konami kept roping him back into it.  I expect something completely different for his first post-Konami title.

Kojima already started his own studio, he's either looking for a publisher, talking exclusivity, etc.

I think Kojima still wants to go into the survival horror area.

Yep, I fully expect the next news we hear about this to be about Guillermo Del Toro working with him again.

[kamikazekeeg]

Where ever he goes, we can expect some interesting games.  I'm curious what he'll want to do first.  Maybe we'll get that survival horror game, just altered to remove anything familiar to Silent Hill, but still just as messed up and twisted.

[aliensstudios]

This is excellent news!

[kmacdw]

I honestly expect him to do what Platinum are doing and make different deals with the different platforms.

We may see a survival horror game pop up as an XONE exclusive (rumored).

We may see a ZOE spiritual successor pop up as an NX exclusive (he's long wanted to make a 3rd ZOE game).

We may see something new entirely show up on PS4.

I'm not saying he won't make some multi-platform titles somewhere down the line but initially he'd be a fool not the play the platforms off against each other and have each company drive a truckload of cash up to his front door and beg him for a game for their platform.