Hideo Kojima and Kojima Productions had a long time relationship dating all the way back to the very beginning of the Metal Gear franchise starting in the late 80s. Now the developer will split ways with the publisher after a slew of actions taken to separate the two entities.
According to a report by Gamespot, Kojima and other staff will work to conclude The Phantom Pain as required per their contract, but resenemtent between the developer and publisher is evident, and Kojima Production will cease work Konami as soon as the game is complete.
The entire Kojima staff has already begun being cut off — corporate emails, internet, and phone service has already been terminated, and the Konami social media team has been at work to distance themselves from the devs. The official twitter account of the Metal Gear franchise had originally included a reference to the developer, but it instead now has taken a generic name — @metalgear_en.
Konami has worked to keep the issues under-wraps and has given little details to inquirers of the current situation, but has stated to Eurogamer that both parties will continue to support Metal Gear products and more information will come in future announcements.
Metal Gear Solid V is due to release in September of this year on Playstation 4, Playstation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, and PC.