Konami: 'Kojima has not left the company, he's on vacation'

[AbbathTheGrim]

Zanten said:
Kind of see this as translating to two possible things.

One, 'Well, we just realized we might have REALLY fucked up on this whole thing, soooo what better way to fix it than to pretend it didn't happen even as we try like hell behind the scenes to get him back."

Two, "The longer we can legally say he's under our employ, the longer we can keep him from doing anything with anyone else, so yeah, he's taking a long vacation! A long, loooong, loooooong vacation. ...during which we will probably not be paying him money. But he'll still be listed as an employee!"

I've known of contracts by companies in Japan that prevent people from doing business with other companies years after the contract ends/is terminated.

Possibility #3: Someone messed up the sources and this story is false.

Possibility #4: Rumors took over everything fueled by the silence from the protagonists of this story.

I think your first point could be it, but I of course can't claim I know the truth with absolute certainty.