Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima is still an employee and has not left the company, says Konami.Responding to a lengthy report by the New Yorker, which claims that Kojima left Konami earlier this month, the publisher told Tokyo Sports [via a Kotaku translation] that "currently, Kojima is listed as a company employee.""Currently, Kojima and the development team are finished developing Metal Gear Solid V and are taking a long time off from work," said a Konami representative. "Because the development time for console games is so long and fatigues builds up, it’s common for employees to take extended periods of time of when development is finished."The New Yorker piece (which you should totally read), says that Kojima left Konami after 28 years earlier this month. The author of the piece even shared a picture from what he says was Kojima’s leaving party. You can see it above. Konami denies any knowledge of the event.Reading between the lines it would appear that Kojima is on gardening leave, a term used to describe a period of fully paid leave during which a departing employee is prevented from influencing the company or accessing confidential records. It means he’s leaving, basically, but hasn’t gone quite yet.This would fit with previous reports which suggest that Kojima will make a proper exit from Konami in December. It would also mean both Konami and The New Yorker report are factually correct. So everyone's a winner*.*Apart from Konami which has lost its best talent, gamers who will probably never see another Kojima-directed MGS game, and Kojima himself - who very soon will not have a job. Other than that, everyone's a winner.
