For those of you who were watching The Game Awards last night, you most likely heard what happened between Kojima and Konami.
Geoff Keighley said that Kojima wasn’t allowed to attend the event due to Konami’s lawyers essentially banning him from showing up. The reason being was that he was still under employee contract, despite no longer working with the company. His contract is set to expire this month.
From the video above:
As you noticed, Hideo Kojima is not here with us tonight and I wanted to tell you a little bit about that. Mr. Kojima had every intention of being with us tonight, but unfortunately he was informed by a lawyer representing Konami just recently that he would not be allowed to travel to tonight’s award ceremony to accept any awards[…]He’s under an employment contract and it’s disappointing and it’s inconceivable to me that an artist like Hideo would not be allowed to come here and celebrate with his peers and his fellow teammates. But that’s the situation we’re in. Hideo is in Tokyo right now watching the show – and we wanted you to know Hideo that we’re thinking of you – and we miss you.
As a tribute to the Metal Gear creator, Stephanie Joosten was brought on stage to sing Quiet’s Theme, which you can view here.
TsukuyomiMagi99
December 4, 2015 at 10:26 amIs this the “vacation” Konami was talking about? Lying sacks of shit.
Mr0303
December 4, 2015 at 10:30 amI honestly can’t believe the lack of self awareness from Konami. When you make the Doritos Pope look like the reasonable good guy, you re-evaluate your life.
Loli-Nox-Tan
December 4, 2015 at 10:35 amNo PR is bad PR
Mighty No. 56008
December 4, 2015 at 10:35 amMany have already said this, and I’ll say it right here as well:
Why? What was this supposed to accomplish??
Neojames82
December 4, 2015 at 10:39 amUmmm, didn’t they fire him at this point?
Juan Manuel M. Suárez
December 4, 2015 at 10:46 amKonami should just change the company name instead of further dragging it through the mud with some of the most despicable choices in the gaming industry~.
John Tesh
December 4, 2015 at 10:54 amWho gives a shit if we don’t know what went on behind the scenes.
dogmentation
December 4, 2015 at 10:56 amThey wanna be in the bad boys club with EA and Ubisoft.
Parkour
December 4, 2015 at 11:02 amMotto in their Twitter page: “We are already Demons”. You know it, Konami. You fucking know it.
Honestly, seeing one of my favourites videogame series ending like that at TGA last night was pretty overwhelming.
May Hideo be free someday, working in a company that respects and appreciates him and his talent, far away from Konami’s claws.
PenguinPlayer
December 4, 2015 at 11:34 amBut why? What are they trying to do? Do they want to become the most hated game company on the planet?
At this point I think EA is probably paying Konami to take the heat off of them for a while.
Asuka
December 4, 2015 at 11:56 amThey could sue the shit out of him.
Dewey Defeats Truman
December 4, 2015 at 11:56 amIt’s really clear Konami doesn’t care about the vidya industry anymore but jesus fucking christ I always forget just how petty some companies can get. This had “horrible PR” written all over it and they just didn’t care.
If I wasn’t so disgusted at Konami I’d almost be impressed with their sheer lack of an ability to give a fuck.
Asuka
December 4, 2015 at 12:00 pmI can’t wait to one day learn just what went down between Kojima and Konami. I also can’t wait for Kojima to be legally free from Konami so he can work for other companies making new games.
Sebastian Mikulec
December 4, 2015 at 12:16 pmI bet he wasn’t banned, he was just on “vacation”.
https://i.imgur.com/8dZZTx6.gif
Vault Man
December 4, 2015 at 12:18 pmThat sucks for Kojima.
djluke_1993
December 4, 2015 at 12:36 pmFucking hell poor Kojima…
Malcolm_Ecks
December 4, 2015 at 1:01 pmLike Blackwater?
TsukuyomiMagi99
December 4, 2015 at 1:08 pmThe reason is simple. They couldn’t handle Kojima’s greatness. :p
TsukuyomiMagi99
December 4, 2015 at 1:11 pmI hope Kojima pulls a Kamiya and develop games from his own studio. He doesn’t have to be Konami’s bitch anymore.
Stilzkin
December 4, 2015 at 1:18 pmKonami is like a mustache twirling cartoon villan
scemar
December 4, 2015 at 1:30 pmdorito pope looking all right there
other people could have keep shut about that but this is something we deserved to know
damn, konami, you’re one cold blooded demon
Alexis Nascimento-Lajoie
December 4, 2015 at 1:52 pmHuh, video was removed by the user. Weeeeeeeeeeird
Sylveria Shini
December 4, 2015 at 2:12 pmKonami’s really trying to out-do EA for being the most dirt-bag gaming company aren’t they.
No_Good_Names_Ever
December 4, 2015 at 2:30 pmSounded more like he was grounded by his evil stepmother. I hope his fairy godmother steps up to base when it’s something worthwhile.
No_Good_Names_Ever
December 4, 2015 at 2:31 pmKeeping everyones mouth shut and locked away.
Zanard Bell
December 4, 2015 at 2:42 pmOn a brighter note, Stefanie Joosten performed Quiet’s Theme. JOOSTEN.
Mighty No. 56008
December 4, 2015 at 3:09 pmRight, cause you wouldn’t want to ruin the company’s image right? Oh wait….
Kiryu
December 4, 2015 at 3:28 pmJust like i banned Konami from my wallet.Will buy it cheap used when i feel like.
Kiryu
December 4, 2015 at 3:30 pmThey have succeeded in my book.
Kiryu
December 4, 2015 at 3:33 pmKojima is loved by gamers and that pisses of Konami.
Carl_Ed
December 4, 2015 at 3:58 pmThey only indescriminately fired on civilians, though. At least they aren’t stopping people making games.
scemar
December 4, 2015 at 4:12 pmEA underpayed developers, underpayed athletes, kills good franchises, disbands good studios and bites its customers with all kinds of nastiest policies.
Konami so far has just given up the business franchises, stopped Kojima receiving an award which everyone knows he won anyway and now he has more sympathy than ever and he’s feeling all that love.
They’re bad but Konami’s bad deeds are all backfiring on it, EA is the professional villain that knows how to get away with it over and over.
sanic
December 4, 2015 at 4:49 pmYeesh EA is going to be able to point to konami and say “see we’re not the biggest dick heads”
Truck
December 4, 2015 at 6:12 pmShame it wasn’t Burke.
Thanatos2k
December 4, 2015 at 7:03 pmJust when you think Konami can’t hit a new low, they do it!
Thanatos2k
December 4, 2015 at 7:04 pmCastlevania Pachinko
RedKnight
December 4, 2015 at 8:08 pmRegardless of what on behind the scenes, Konami has refused to explain the matter what so ever and has even gone to saying he was “on vacation” what they did just shows how much more they are an un-trusted company.
Konami had a lot of fans, and then they through it away without any good explanation, you cant pull moves like these when you have a audience and a reputation like what they had before.
Far as i am concerned there is no Konami anymore, and ill never get to see the games i loved from them ever again, and even if they did release a new game i probably wont support it now and i will insist on others not supporting them.
British_Otaku
December 4, 2015 at 8:10 pmThe difference is that even though Kamiya and friends left on pretty rough terms, Kamiya has some interest (held some polls about him working on VJ/DMC/Okami) and love for Capcom (even telling people off for insulting his old home) still.
Kojima won’t want to be seen anywhere next to Konami after all this.
Cerzel
December 4, 2015 at 8:18 pm“EA underpayed developers, kills good franchises,
disbands good studios and bites its customers with all kinds of
nastiest policies.”
But Konami did all of those things too.
Zombie_Barioth
December 4, 2015 at 10:09 pmDamn it, that’s my line.:P
First they put him on a non-compete agreement, then Kojima is just “on vacation”, next they’re done with AAA games, now they aren’t. Finally they pull this crap. Just what they hell do those lunatics think they’re doing?
V Whitaker
December 5, 2015 at 5:05 amWell, goodness, Konami!? You just don’t give a shit anymore do you?
V Whitaker
December 5, 2015 at 5:13 amIt looks like they tried to ‘play hardball’ then realizing their massive mistake are now in a downward spiral of ‘damage control’. Something tells me that Kojima is somewhere nodding and smiling as he watches them crash and burn. At least I hope he is.
Sylveria Shini
December 5, 2015 at 4:10 pmHey I said trying, not succeeding.
epobirs
December 6, 2015 at 2:09 am1. Completely alienate your core customer base.
2. ??????
3. Profit!