Youtube Enters Into Konami Vs Kojima Scandal

By Scott Tailford / May 15, 2015

Chances are unless you're keeping up with video game news at something past surface level, you'll need a recap on the whole Hideo Kojima versus Konami debacle, as it's quite a doozy. So, Kojima (the genius plot-wizard behind the Metal Gear Solid series) was doing his thing, working on latest instalment MGS V: The Phantom Pain, when it emerged that Konami were not only taking his name off the game's promotional materials, but rebranding his studio from 'Kojima Productions' to 'Konami Los Angeles Studio'. Why? Nobody knew. Assumedly with these being Japanese companies replete with various business practices and cultural values of honour to uphold, the details weren't about to be splayed all over the internet, although people assumed there must be something between Hideo and the higher-ups at Konami HQ to cause the rift in the first place. Then the Silent Hills project got cancelled. It emerged through both Guillermo del Toro and The Walking Dead's Norman Reedus (both involved up to this point) that it wasn't happening, but again Kojima had no comment on the matter, instead the only press statement out there was him saying that both himself and his team were "100% involved" in completing Phantom Pain, regardless of anything. Now, these events have taken place across the last few months, letting news-fiends and in particular Youtuber 'Super Bunnyhop' compile a video detailing the intricacies of Konami versus Kojima - to which Konami forced a copyright takedown notice on the account in response. It would seem he was onto something, and as such although YouTube abided by Konami's request to silence the video immediately, as of May 15th they've looked into the matter and discovered the reason for it being pulled (around 30 seconds of Metal Gear Rising footage) is not enough to keep the footage delisted. As such it has been restored, has over 300,000 views to date, and is viewable below. The video details specifics compiled from anonymous sources to point the finger directly at Konami head office, raising some very troubling instances of the company mistreating its employees and a rocky relationship with Kojima himself.Whether this is the full story or not is still up in the air, but all eyes are on Konami right now as their conduct has been anything but professional. It appears whatever's going down it's going to result in MGS V being the final Kojima-backed title in the series, not to mention if Hideo even stays with the company after so much bad blood has emerged between them. Let us know in the comments what you think of the whole thing, and where Kojima should go if he confirms termination from Konami!