Ok, bear with me, this is a whole lot of detective work and different ideas.
Ok, let's start with the basics.
Konami as a video game company has pretty much survived on the mgs name. They have other products like slot machines and pachinko, etc, but it's their main cash cow, and kojima has always been in charge from designer on mg NES to the latest phantom pain. Kojima was so highly respected within the company he was given the role of executive director. Then, he was given his own studio, Kojima Productions.
I believe that it is at this point when kojima was thinking about leaving.
See, KojiPro was founded in 2005, after mgs3, and their first major release was mgs4: guns of the patriots in 2008, which coincides with a three year development time for the game. Kojima then said metal gear was over, but then suddenly he's making them again....his team would go on to make peacewalker, portable ops, ground zeroes, and phantom pain.
So obviously, things did not go quite as planned. He wanted to end it, but for some reason kept making them...why? Some haters on the internet will tell you it's because Koj is a one-trick pony...But his fans know how complex and intricate his games are.
This is the first clue. Something happened here. Koji said he wanted to work on other series, and even hinted at a new zone of the enders...was Konami forcing him to keep making Metal Gear?
This article came out in 2007 on VideoGamesBlogger:
"Throughout the years Hideo Kojima has continuously stated that the most recent Metal Gear Solid game would be his last . . . As he once again repeated at E3 2007 in July regarding Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots . . . but again and again he has defied his own words and gone on to produce and direct the core Metal Gear Solid sequels, to the loud jubilation of fans everywhere. And now it looks like Kojima-san might repeat the past when Metal Gear Solid 4, which he is once again heading up, hits store shelves and work begins on Metal Gear Solid 5.
In a recent phone interview with Next Gen, a marketing VP at Konami Digital Entertainment was quoted as saying, about Hideo: “I’m sure he’s never going to let go of Metal Gear Solid-trust me. Snake’s a big character, so as a franchise I think he’ll always hold it near and dear to his heart. In one capacity or another, he [Hideo Kojima] will always be involved in the Metal Gear franchise.”"
It's so absolutely crystal clear that already in 2007, talks of possible separation from the company were happening. So, what happens after MGS4 is released?
He IMMEDIATELY begins work on the fox engine, designed as the greatest engine to make developers jobs easier and raise the bar of development. Speaking of the engine he said that it was designed to significantly shorten development time, and make development easier, as well as making multiplatform possible, which is odd because since metal gear solid, the franchise has nearly been entirely exclusive to Sony...he's even made jokes within game at the competitor's expense. It is only after the FOX engine that multiplatform has become more used. Was Kojima using his Fox engine as a bartering tool for his own freedom? Surely mgs could not be sustained without Kojima, and the story would likely dive as hard as Silent Hill has in the past years, but with FOX, it could possibly unburden Kojima from mgs with free time.
Meanwhile, Kojima started hiring people from all over the world. He was building a new team. These people worked on the FOX engine and on phantom pain/ground zeroes, and it is announced with the studio name "Moby Dick" with director Joakim Mogren. Fake studio name, huh? At the time, it felt like it was just a marketing thing, but what if Kojima was now overtly dropping hints? So, FOX is finished in late 2013/14, with PES 2014 being the first game to use it. What happens next? Kojima works with Guillermo del Toro and Norman Reedus. If you are a Kojima fan, you will know that the man LOVES visual media, and movies. His games are renown for their cinematography and complex stories, as well as endless dialogue. In 2012 he talks about the Silent Hill franchise, saying he borrowed the movie from a friend and "wished someone would use the FOX engine to make a silent hill game".
It seems like Kojima was being rewarded for completing the FOX engine, getting to work with a director on a game he wanted to see. Kojima, the director whose titles resemble a big budget movie marquee with "a Hideo Kojima Production", is now working with actual Hollywood people. This, in addition to replacing David Hayter as Snake, with Keifer Sutherland, the tv star of the hit series "24"
Recapping, we have Kojima wanting to stop, Konami wanting to continue, Kojima working on an engine to alleviate development, and then Kojima working on new titles and working with film stars, and at the same time building a new studio. It really feels like there is a push and pull going on. There is a real sense of demands from Konami, and Kojima trying to work around them, with incentives thrown in for good measure. It's clear that Konami doesn't want Kojima to go, but they also can't just let him do whatever he wants.
It would appear that Kojima had been expecting this recent departure for quite some time. He even says at one point about Phantom Pain that, "With Metal Gear Solid 5 I’m finally closing the loop on that saga. In that sense, this will be the final Metal Gear Solid. To me, this is the last Metal Gear." He knows he's leaving, and he knows he's leaving the franchise in the hands of Konami to do with what they will.
So we can surmise that Kojima has known about this for, who knows, 5 years or more....maybe even since 2008 he knew this day was coming.
In Ground Zeroes, the prelude to MGS5, there is a mission in which you go through and erase all the logos scattered around the base.
Then we have this quote:
"You can try to erase the markings, but the memories will always be there"
Another interesting quote comes in the Silent Hills demo "P.T." At the end, we hear a quote from a character who is never once mentioned in the demo itself. It's a very odd and comes across as a non-sequitor. Here it is:
"Dad was such a drag.
Everyday he'd eat the same kind of food, dress the same, sit in front of the same kind of games...
Yeah, he was just that kind of guy.
But then one day, he goes and kills us all!
He couldn't even be original about the way he did it.
I'm not complaining... I was dying of boredom anyway.
But guess what? I will be coming back, and I'm bringing my new toys with me."
Kojima talks in reference like this a lot on his personal twitter, where recently he posted in separate pictures (description in parentheses)
Friday 13th (sun) About to set
Saturday 14th (spring) coming
Sunday 15th (Solid Snake) Tired
Sunday 15th (Solid Snake) Taking a break
Monday 16th (Snake entering helicopter) Taking off (The day wherein kojipro is redacted from financial statement)
Lastly, we have him taking pictures with Naughty Dog recently, and in the latest MGS, Big Boss is on a mission supported by Kazuhira "Kaz" Miller. Kazuhira (sounding very similar to Kazuo Hirai) is also the only character in the game that refers to the player as Boss. Everyone else calls him Snake.
What do you think?
Edit: new info
the reason kojima left is because of creative control.
he said he was going to tackle a certain kind of taboo and "if I don't do it correctly, I'll probably have to leave the industry"
The thing is, we still have the open Question of why he removed his name. And that's because of creative control.
konami forced him to omit the content. Dissatisfied with the decision, he is leaving the company and that is why he is taking his name off of the title. It's not his game, in his eyes. It all makes sense. And I can only assume this has been going on for a while now.
