The intriguing Hideo Kojima drama continues unabated today after a Metal Gear Solid voice actress took to Twitter to reveal that the esteemed developer was allegedly fired from Konami, and that the upper echelons of the company had “fired a genius.” A genius though he may be, Donna Burke’s claims weren’t supported with any tangible evidence, and the Japanese publisher has since reached out to VideoGamer to deny Burke’s allegations, stating that any conjecture that Kojima is leaving on bad terms is “categorically incorrect.”
Burke, who has worked under Hideo Kojima for last year’s Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, caused quite the kerfuffle after posting the following message on her personal Twitter account.
Yes don’t throw away the Kojima teams work over the last 5 years because upper management fired a genius
— Donna Burke (@db_singer_actor) April 9, 2015
As this saga has unfolded, it’s gathered that Kojima will remain on board as game director until his contract expires in December of 2015. In fact, the developer recently revealed that he remains 100% involved in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain as the stealth sequel gears up for its September release, though the fate of his involvement in the Silent Hills reboot is up in the air by comparison.
Understandably, speculation that Kojima has been fired from Konami raised a lot of concerns in the community, leading Akio Otsuka (the voice actor who voices the Japanese Snake) to post a message asking fans to continue supporting the upcoming fifth installment and, crucially, not to cancel their pre-orders based on unsubstantiated Internet talk. Otsuka wrote, “The TPP [The Phantom Pain] team is the same, so please don’t cancel pre-orders or encourage others not to buy it.”
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain will release on September 1.