Konami has just announced that they’ve given their Konami Los Angeles Studio the axe; the studio formerly being Kojima Productions Los Angeles.
Their reasoning behind the closure is that they are “restructuring” their development resources into a more centralised unit. It doesn’t affect the release date for Metal Gear Online, which is due to release January 2016 on Steam. The studio is known for producing the more recent Metal Gear Solid games, the latest being Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain.
Whether or not this has got to do with Hideo Kojima’s departure from the studio a month back (which Konami claims he is only taking a vacation) but his contact will expire in December, after which he can produce games with another studio if he so wishes.
However, Konami states that the Metal Gear Solid franchise will still continue, though they’ve pretty much removed most traces of Kojima from the titles and Konami’s executive structure. So it seems what they’re saying is pretty contradictory, but bottom line is Kojima seems to have walked out and isn’t planning on going back.
So how do you think this will impact the future of the Metal Gear series? let us know in the comments.
