Konami has released the final cover it will be using for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. All traces of Hideo Kojima are now gone.
It was known a few weeks ago that the game’s cover no longer had “A Hideo Kojima Game” at the top. Now Konami has decided to remove the Kojima Productions logo from the box-art as well.
Konami has only decided to keep the FOX Engine logo there. They may have removed it if it was called the “Kojima Engine” with the way things are currently going. The box-art also shows the “M” rating too.
The company and Kojima himself have yet to really explain what is really going on. It’s possible they cannot legally say anything until Kojima finally leaves after Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain comes out. It’s speculated he will be free in December.
The only situation I know that is similar were the issues professional wrestler CM Punk had with his former employer the WWE. Punk left the company back in January 2014 and nobody knew the real reason why. WWE started to “erase” Punk from existence the same way Konami is doing with Kojima.
It wasn’t until a settlement between Punk and WWE did we get a real reason why he left. After the legal stuff was out of the way, Punk told everyone exactly what happened via a podcast.
Maybe in the near future, all of our questions will be answered and we will know what exactly went down between Kojima and Konami. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain releases September 1st.
