All Articles: Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

UPDATE: Nikkei has released an official English translation of the article.

Nikkei, a Japanese financial newspaper, recently published an article that delves into the struggles and horrible working conditions of employees at Konami. Basically, it is not pretty, and if anything, Hideo Kojima’s rumored departure can only be seen as a good thing.

The article is entirely in Japanese, and the website requires a subscription to fully access it, but volunteer translators have been working on the article and released some highlights this morning through NeoGAF. Additional translations are available at GamesIndustry.biz and Kotaku.

A number of anonymous employees spoke to Nikkei about life at Konami, describing a prison-like environment. Employees who are deemed “useless” are either sent to the assembly line to work on pachinko machines, or are reassigned to become security officers. Some are even forced to clean up the gym located in Konami’s headquarters. And this punishment isn’t just limited to low-level workers, producers and other prominent creators have also had this type of grunt work hoisted on them.

Lunch breaks are said to be regulated via time cards, and any employee who runs late is “outed” from the company. Konami’s employees are also said to be under heavy surveillance at all times. Even Solid Snake himself couldn’t dodge all the security cameras and punch clocks that line the company’s halls.

All these measures allegedly stem from the success Konami had with a mobile game known as Dragon Collection, which has made far more money and was much cheaper to develop than any console game the company produced in years. This news is certainly in line with Konami’s recent attitude, which has led to the cancellation of the majority of their console projects, including Silent Hills.

Nikkei’s report also states that, as of April 2015, Konami had spent $80 million on Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Coupled with the publisher’s desire to move towards mobile games, this astronomical budget likely had something to do with Konami’s rift with Kojima.

Konami has already stated they plan on continuing with the Metal Gear series, as well as Pro Evolution Soccer, but beyond that, much of the company’s plans remain a mystery.

As the secret war between Konami and Hideo Kojima continues to rage, the publisher has taken another public shot at the developer with the release of the final cover design of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. In an attempt to distance Kojima from the title, Konami has officially removed the developer’s name from the game’s packaging. This includes an above-the-title text credit (“A Hideo Kojima Game”) and the Kojima Productions logo. A previous version of the Phantom Pain cover included both. The original cover and the updated version can both be found after the break.

Though Kojima publicly states he is “100% involved” with The Phantom Pain’s development, this redesign of the game’s cover is more proof of the strained relationship between the developer and the publisher. It could even be said that the removal of Kojima’s name is a personal attack on the developer as he’s been given a text credit on the cover of every Metal Gear Solid game since 2001’s Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty.

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain will be released for the PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One on September 1. Two weeks later, the game will also be released for the PC. While still unconfirmed, Kojima is expected to leave Konami after the completion of The Phantom Pain.

Last year, Kojima announced an intent to resurrect the Silent Hill franchise in collaboration with director Guillermo Del Toro and actor Norman Reedus. That game, Silent Hills, was canceled by Konami back in April. (more…)