Hideo Kojima, one of the most renowned veteran game designers in the industry, has had its
fair share of success during the span of his career.
Achieving both critical acclaim and financial success with the Metal Gear Solid franchise,
it seems like any game company would be lucky to have him.
However, in October 2015, Hideo Kojima left his office at Konami for the last time after
being employed there for nearly three decades.
It didn’t take long for the story to reach the public, and the second it did, it caused
a lot of outcry and confusion among fans.
Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain had come out a couple of months prior and proved to
be another hit for Kojima, selling 3 million physical copies within the first 5 days of
release.
So why did Konami shut the door on him there and then?
It turns out Konami and Kojima had been drifting apart for years, both developing their own
ideas and vision on what the company should focus on.
That shift in focus goes as far back as 2007 with the launch of the first iPhone.
It was around this time the Japanese company Gree saw a new opportunity in the rise of
the mobile market and started to experiment with their online games.
They would offer their games for free to its customers and added bonus content that could
be unlocked for a small price, a system we now know as the free to play model.
A year later, when the financial crisis in America was in full effect, the cost of TV
advertising in Japan took a sharp dive as a result.
Mobile Game Companies like Gree didn’t hesitate to take advantage of the situation and started
mass advertising their “free games” by comparing them to consoles, PCs and traditional
video games and the price they come with.
The strategy proved successful and Gree grew into one of the largest mobile-game operators
today, with millions of registered users playing their games.
Konami watched closely as these new mobile games garnered immense popularity and quickly
decided they couldn’t stay behind.
In 2010, Konami released their first two mobile games called Dragon Collection and Sengoku
Collection and they became a huge success for the company.
Combined they had 9 million registered users and thanks to the microtransactions within
both games, it helped Konami boost its profits by almost 80% between 2011 and 2012.
While developing games for consoles and PC was still profitable for Konami, they couldn’t
ignore the high cost of developing these big triple A-titles.
The budget for Metal Gear Solid 4 was estimated to be between 50 to 70 million dollars and
it’s sequel The Phantom Pain, had an even higher budget of over 80 million dollars.
Not to mention the time it took to develop these entries in the Metal Gear Solid franchise.
By the time The Phantom Pain came out, it had been 7 years since the last main console
iteration.
Mobile games on the other hand are much cheaper to produce and provide more opportunity to
make a profit, thereby minimizing the risk and maximizing the return on investment.
Jordan Amaro, a game designer for the Phantom Pain had this to say: “Why risk producing
pricey and sophisticated games in an age that favors indulgence in shallow, convenient entertainment?”
A former employee at Konami, Ryan Payton, already noticed the beginning of the end when
MGS4 shipped: “We’ve seen the end of the console-game market in Japan, even by the
time Metal Gear Solid IV shipped in 2008.
I felt like our team was one of just a handful of Japan-based developers who were still fighting
to produce blockbuster games.”
At this point it was clear Konami had to make a decision about the future of its company.
So, they slowly started focusing more on the mobile market and began restructuring its
console development division.
Despite this, Hideo Kojima was still one of Konami’s biggest assets and he started to
take on more responsibility within the company.
On april 1st 2011, Hideo was promoted to Executive Vice President and Corporate Officer, taking
on the duty of overseeing most of Konami’s triple-A game projects.
In 2012 his promotion started to bare fruit when he unveiled the next chapter in the Metal
Gear Solid franchise at a Penny Arcade Expo during the celebration of the Metal Gear franchise's
25th anniversary.
A demo was shown off revealing the title Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeros.
The game would function as a prequel to the then unannounced 5th iteration in the series.
Apart from unveiling the game, it was also the perfect opportunity for Kojima to talk
about the technology supporting it.
The Fox Engine was designed at Kojima Productions, the studio created by Konami so that Hideo
Kojima could have the freedom to pour all his creative energy into making games.
According to Kojima the engine was made with a specific goal in mind: “The concept of
the Fox Engine is photo-realism.
The age of fixating on pictures and sound in games is over.
Now the questions are: How free is it?
Does it connect to the internet and is the gameplay smooth?
Even so, a certain level of realistic atmosphere is required.
At Kojima Productions we're aiming for a line where even simple CG models look photo-realistic
when you zoom out of the game screen.”
He even delved into what sort of games could be made with the powerful engine, explaining
that it could be used to make an FPS, an adventure game like Uncharted or something on rails.
He also added that the engine may be used by other Konami studios to support different
properties as well and gave Silent Hill as an example.
Another important reason for creating the engine was efficiency and Hideo commented
that it was now possible to develop games in a much shorter time period than ever before.
While Konami was losing faith in console games, Kojima was gearing up for a future filled
with many high quality video games that he could now personally oversee thanks to the
new responsibilities given to him by Konami.
A couple of months after the Penny Arcade Expo, the Spike Video Game Awards were held
and started the show off with a trailer of a game called “The Phantom Pain”.
It was seemingly being developed by an unknown Swedish developer called Moby Dick Studio,
but fans quickly discovered numerous hints that teased a connection with the Metal Gear
franchise.
Hideo Kojima is also known for misdirecting players and creating a sense of mystery around
his games.
So sure enough, a couple of months later he admitted that it had all been a ploy and that
the Phantom Pain was actually Metal Gear Solid 5.
With Ground Zeros and The Phantom Pain already under his supervision, he would have to divide
his attention even more.
After he publicly talked about a potential Silent Hill game being made with the Fox Engine,
the former president of Konami’s Digital entertainment division, Tomoyuki Tsuboi, called
Hideo up to tell him he’d like Hideo to make the next Silent Hill game.
It was an offer the game designer simply couldn’t refuse, even though Kojima admitted he gets
scared easily:
“Honestly, I'm kind of a scaredy-cat when it comes to horror movies, so I'm not confident
I can do it.
At the same time, there's a certain type of horror that only people who are scared of
can create, so maybe it's something I can do.
That said, I think Silent Hill has a certain atmosphere.
I think it has to continue, and I'd love to help it continue, and if I can help by supervising
or lending the technology of the Fox Engine, then I'd love to participate in that respect.”
In March of 2014 Konami announced that Tomohiro Uesugi had been promoted to the role of president
of Konami Digital Entertainment.
This might have been one of the crucial moments that led to Konami and Hideo Kojima parting
ways mere months after the release of MGS5, especially if you read between the lines in
the way Konami spread the message to the press.
“Mr. Uesugi brings a reputation and history as a transformational leader with a strong
track record of driving revenue and promoting organizational development.”
Before he joined Konami back in 2013, he gained experience at financial advisor KPMG Azsa
and at Sumitomo Trust & Banking's real estate division.
There’s no denying any company would want a smart businessman behind the wheel, but
knowing what we know now, it seemed like Konami was desperately trying to steer the ship in
a vastly different, more profitable direction.
This would ultimately mean that the company would start putting profits first and artistic
vision second.
On March 18th, days after Uesugi got his promotion, Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeros was released,
but there was no time to celebrate yet since Kojima Productions was still hard at work
to complete The Phantom Pain.
Later that year, fans of Silent Hill did celebrate when the now infamous P.T. demo was announced
at Gamescom, followed by its release on the PS store on the same day.
Initially, no substantial information was released about the demo, except for the developer’s
name 7780s Studio.
One player was able to complete the demo within hours of its release and witnessed the secret
ending which revealed that the playable teaser was meant to announce a new installment in
the Silent Hill franchise.
Aside from that, the ending also revealed that both Hideo Kojima and film director Guillermo
del Toro were involved in the new project.
To wrap it all up, The Walking Dead star Norman Reedus would most likely be the protagonist
as he was the character players were controlling all along in P.T..
To the outside world, it seemed like things couldn’t get any better for the legendary
game designer and that his job at Konami was more than secure for many years to come.
Little did they know that the Japanese game company was about to announce another corporate
restructuring that would usher in a new era for Konami.
An era that didn’t involve Hideo Kojima any longer.
In early March of 2015, Konami announced that the new corporate restructuring would go into
effect in mid-March and accompanied the announcement with the following message: “We are shifting
our production structure to a headquarters-controlled system, in order to establish a steadfast
operating base capable of responding to the rapid market changes that surround our digital
entertainment business.”
The first suspicious act of the newly reformed organization was to remove any mention of
Hideo Kojima or Kojima Productions on the official Metal Gear website, along with any
promotional material for The Phantom Pain, Ground Zeros and Metal Gear Solid: The Legacy
Collection.
The Kojima Productions studio in Los Angeles was even renamed to Konami Los Angeles Studio.
Soon after, GameSpot published an article that detailed the increasingly difficult relationship
between Hideo and Konami.
The information came from an inside source which claimed that Konami was going as far
as restricting access to corporate internet, emails, and phone calls for all senior Kojima
Productions officials.
The source also told GameSpot that Kojima and other staff members were reduced to contractors
and that once their contract ends in December, the team would be disbanded and upper management,
including Hideo, would have to leave Konami.
During all these reports from multiple gaming outlets, Konami was doing its best to assure
the public that they and Kojima were still on good terms.
The Phantom Pain was scheduled to release on the 1st of September later that year so
any bad press needed to be swept under the rug.
A joint statement was published that included a quote from Hideo himself saying he was still
100% involved with MGS5.
Konami made a separate post on its website that day, detailing a leading development
position for a new Metal Gear series.
At this point, it was almost safe to say that Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain would
be Hideo Kojima’s farewell to the series.
A few weeks later Hideki Hayakawa became the new CEO of Konami and according to an interview
with the CEO on the Japanese website Nikkei Trendy Net, Konami was now fully on course
to start shipping more and more mobile experiences and steer clear from Console and PC games.
“Gaming has spread to a number of platforms, but at the end of the day, the platform that
is always closest to us, is mobile.
Mobile is where the future of gaming lies.
With multiplatform games, there's really no point in dividing the market into categories
anymore.
Mobile will take on the new role of linking the general public to the gaming world.”
Konami’s and Hideo’s vision simply didn’t align anymore.
Konami wanted the company to be as profitable as can be with as little risk and effort as
possible and the mobile market provided exactly that.
Hideo on the other hand has always been an artist that wants to push boundaries and explore
uncharted territory.
Mobile games just wasn’t something he wanted to be involved with.
Public perception of Konami only got worse after the new CEO took charge.
In late April of 2015, Konami announced that they would be removing the P.T. demo created
by Kojima Productions from the PS Store on April 29.
No further explanation was given making people wonder if the newly announced Silent Hills
title would ever see the light of day.
After the announcement, attendees at the San Francisco Film Society that following weekend
took the opportunity to ask Guillermo del Toro about the demo’s removal and what this
meant for Silent Hills.
He bluntly responded that the game was cancelled.
In an interview with IGN in May he elaborated about the game’s cancellation: “Honestly
that's what surprised me.
It was a sort of scorched earth approach.
It was not a gentle and ambiguous cancellation.”
After del Toro’s statement at the Film Society, Norman Reedus started posting tweets that
Silent Hills had indeed been cancelled.
The next day Konami put out a press release to officially confirm that development on
Silent Hills would not be continued.
In July it was discovered that Konami wanted to fully erase Hideo’s history at the company
by removing his name and the logo of Kojima Productions from the final box art of MGS5,
just like they had done with all the other promotional material.
But the final nail in the coffin was yet to come.
Hideo Kojima reportedly left the offices of Konami for the last time on the 9th of October
after a farewell party that was rather cheerful but also an emotional goodbye according to
an employee.
Konami swiftly denied this and claimed that Hideo and the rest of his team were only taking
an extended break after work on MGS5 had finished.
A few weeks later the Kojima Productions studio in Los Angeles had to close its doors for
good.
The most devastating blow to Hideo Kojima’s name and legacy happened in December of 2015
during The Game Awards.
When The Phantom Pain was released in September it was met with huge critical acclaim and
as a result it was nominated in 5 different categories at the annual award show.
It managed to snatch up 2 awards that night, one of them being for best action/adventure
game.
When it was time to accept the award though, actor Kiefer Sutherland who voiced Snake in
the game, came up on stage on behalf of Hideo Kojima.
Immediately afterwards, Geoff Keighley, the creator of the game awards and personal friend
of Hideo, took the stage and personally addressed the crowd and everyone watching at home:
“As you noticed, Hideo Kojima is not here with us tonight and I want to tell you a little
bit about that.
Mr. Koijma had every intention of being with us tonight, but unfortunately he was informed
by a lawyer representing Konami just recently that he would not be allowed to travel to
tonight’s award ceremony to accept any awards.”
What should have been a celebrated moment in the game industry’s history, a last thank
you to the game director and visionary who dedicated over 15 years of his life to the
Metal Gear Solid franchise, had quickly turned sour.
Konami, an entertainment company once known for helping to create some of the most beloved
game franchises around the world like Castlevenia, Silent Hill, Contra & Metal Gear, was now
shunned by the same people that used to play their games.
Luckily for Hideo Kojima, there was finally some good news on the horizon later that month.
His contract with Konami expired on the 15th of december and was happy to share that piece
of information on his personal twitter.
Just a day later, Sony released a video where Andrew House, the President and Global CEO
of Sony Computer Entertainment, announced a partnership with none other then Hideo Kojima.
During his time away from Konami, Hideo wasn’t going to let his former employer be the end
of his career and kept himself very busy setting up his own independent studio that was once
again called Kojima Productions.
Because of non-disclosure agreements, we’ll probably never know the full story as to exactly
why Konami went to the lengths it did and decided to publicly disgrace one of its most
respected former employees in the game industry.
Even going as far as removing any mention of his existence at the company.
In the end, Kojima wanted to keep making games and Konami wanted to run a successful business.
It seems like both parties got what they wanted.
A few years after the breakup with Konami, Hideo was willing to share more about his
emotional state during his difficult time right after he had to leave his office at
Konami.
“I was creating games for 30 years, and I was very confident about creating games,
but I had nothing to start with, It was from scratch.
No office, no staff, no materials or things to work on, no machines.
I thought I had lost everything, but I found out that I had a lot of connections.
Like Sony people, like Norman Reedus, like Geoff Keighley.
I really wanted to reconnect with these people that I thought were really important.”
To right the wrong that had happened during the game awards of 2015, Geoff Keighley proudly
presented Hideo Kojima with the Industry Icon award the following year.
On stage Hideo told the crowd that he thought he had lost everything, but soon realized
he hadn’t actually lost anything.
This realisation, along with some cookies he received at a hotel in Osaka, gave Hideo
Kojima the strength to move on and start an exciting new chapter in his gaming career.