For months now, rumors of strife between Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima and his longtime publisher, Konami, have been swirling. While comments from both parties intended to assuage fan concern have been issued, other evidence has indicated that not all is well in the relationship.
Box art for catalog games has been changed to remove Kojima’s name, and recently the Japanese voice actor for Snake indicated the studio was forced to disband. Yesterday, Konami released updated box art for Metal Gear Solid V that further distances Kojima from the game.
For years, Metal Gear titles have born the words “A Hideo Kojima Game.” While that was removed from the online image representing the game some months ago, it’s only now that the actual box mockups have been updated to remove the attribution.
Konami left the previous box art images on its media site, making a direct comparison easy. You can see the two different versions above. We’ve reached out to Konami for comment, and we’ll update should we receive a response.