I admit I'm a big fan of Kojima's works and influences more so than the MGS franchise itself (which I still love because of the aforementioned reason). So when I heard this news I was in disbelief, if Kojima isn't working on the next game then I guess I can say I'm done with the franchise.
Same here probably. I was never the die-hard played-every-game fan because I am a PC gamer and sadly MGS3, 4 and PW are not on PC. I played MG1+2, MGS1+2 back in the days and I played MGS3 with an emulator, never got around to MGS4 and PW because I simply had not access to them, but I watched Let's Plays of them. I just love the franchise, the themes, the way he designed his games. MGSV TPP looks awesome. I just hope he will still have the creative freedom to realize MGSV the way he wanted to and that Konami will not "restrict" him in this area as well.
It kind of comes across really personal here. I mean Kojima was Vice President of Konami, now he was basically fired or stepped back from those positions only being handled as "independent contractor". But that is not what shocks me. They remove his name from EVERYTHING.
I mean if it would just be MGSV, sure, I'D say "hey, they want to make it not SO apparent that the next game will not be "A Hideo Kojima Game" and they want new players not to associate the involvement of Kojima as guarantee for success and his absence as sign of failure, a marketing decision, I can understand that.
BUT, they remove his name from his OLD games as well, basically from everything that comes out from now on, no matter if it is just a bundle of MG games all made by Kojima, they don't credit him anymore for anything, erase his name from the company history, rename his L.A. studio, it's kind of a d*ck move IMO. And it comes across as REALLY personal.
So I can imagine a few scenarios.
1. Kojima didn't want to make another MG game and Konami fired him
2. Kojima (as Vice President) was against fundamental changes in the companies structure and market focus or other elements and they fired him
3. Kojima left because he wanted to, wanted to start new projects, etc and Konami are pissed because they loose their money making machine
Anyway, it's really sag to see that MGS is owned by Konami while Kojima leaves. Maybe, when the dust is settled he can from time to time work with them as "advisor" for any new MG games or Silent Hills or similar projects, that might convince me to give those games a shot. But if not then I'm kind of done with Metal Gear. I'll go wherever Kojima goes, since my loyalty belongs to the creator of this epic series and the other developers who worked with him to make such great games happen (of which a lot are apparently leaving as well with Kojima)
Outer Heaven Productions FTW !!!