Kojima's a talent and a big name in the business but at the end of the day, video games are just that: a business. Silent Hills looked like it was going to be a great game but Konami's gotta put its foot down somewhere. AAA development is expensive enough as it is, now you're bringing in Hollywood figures into the equation for an IP that's been somewhat forgotten over the years?

New Silent Hills was just too good to be true, sadly.

Being a perfectionist is pretty expensive. Being able to achieve both critical and financial acclaim without being a perfectionist is incredibly rare though.

Konami, who is paying for those delays, is who's to say. There's a reason Konami doesn't care about console games anymore. Guess what it is: M.O.N.E.Y. If Konami was making enough money, they would still be focused on consoles. They aren't because they aren't. That means that, even with the almighty Kojima and MGSV, they don't expect to make enough money for continued business in that space to be worth it.

Clearly, those millions aren't enough. Clearly, the money it costs to develop an MGS game and the time and recources it takes isn't offseting the return when it's finally released enough. If it was, Konami wouldn't have fired Kojima and we wouldn't be having this conversation.

It's not just risky - it's not profitable enough. It's not worth it. The successes like MGS are not successful enough.

So yeah, why fund an expensive console game that, even if it sells well will never sell enough to be worth the initial investment when you can make 50 piece of crap mobile games that will? That's what Konami probably asked Kojima as they fired him.

Don't know why every story needs a good guy and a bad buy. This was, from the beginning, a grey issue.

I mean in the sense that understanding hes on salary so holding the game for ever reason doesnt his paycheck, but it does effect Konami. Im sure Konami didnt want to end up with a game that needed 5 mill sales start making them moeny. Im not saying Kojima for being profectionist but gotta ship sometime. Reminds me of Team Bondi fiasco. 

I was never on the fuck Konami banwagon, too much history with them. Its good to finally see their end.

Very interesting, if true. I'm inclined to support Kojima, since he's one of the most brilliant minds in the industry, but I can relate to Konami wanting to protect its bottom line.

Maybe the split was for the best. Konami can manage its profits more carefully and, assuming he can find the proper benefactor, Kojima can enjoy more creative freedom.

Seriously. The Konami didnt give a fuck shit is ignorant. MGS is Konami's greatest asset and they Kojima everything he wanted. His own studio, his own engine, his own tagline. This time he seemed be asking TOO MUCH. He even stated that games like GTA were making it hard for him to except his own game, so he keeps expanding. Konami is expecting a product to sell guys.  

Obviously money is the issue, but who's fault is it that they are in this situation? Many companies make plenty of money in the industry, many don't (for example THQ whose demise was completely their own fault). I find it hard to believe that kojima has suddenly gone out of control after working at konami for almost 30 years.

Firing him because of money reasons is obviously a totally legitimate reason and i'm not saying Konami = Bad and Kojima = Good, he probably is very hard to work with which helped lead up to this whole situation, he really seems up his own ass but I can't really blame him tbh. They may want out of the console business because they don't make enough money for it to be worth it which could be because of decisions they've made or whatever over the years that's fine I really don't care. The only thing that I don't like to see is how they removed all mention of him and his team after he'd been working there for so long. They could have easily just announced that he would be let go after the game released due to creative differences or change in company vision or whatever and that would've been that

I agree that the issue is pretty grey and it's easy to paint Konami as the bad guy and this new info might be bullshit I don't really care I just like metal gear solid. Anywho the only reason I even wrote anything in the first place is because I like many of the games that he has made and I'd rather not see another publish ditch console and go the mobile route. I hope kojima gets an offer to take his team with him and given a big budget so he can continue making good games.

Also sorry if this whole thing seems really random I was busy and lost my train of thought multiple times while writing this

What? It says right in the OP that he gets paid a salary, how does extending developement mean he gets paid more? Also I'd assume that a lot of teams will ask for and possibly(?) receive more funds for their game. If he wants to make the best game he can then you can't really fault him for that unless he is being completely ridiculous. It's up to the publisher to decide whether granting more funding is worth it or not. If he can't deal with their rules then yeah they have a right to fire him.

You're right. He was likely always "out of control." It just took until now for it to get to the point where he wasn't worth the baggage, so he was cut. And of course it's their fault that they are in this situation, because they did thinks like allow Kojima to get away with the things he did. They probably pumped the brakes on him, then he got pissed because they were restricting his creativity, shit hit the fan, and Kojima was fired in bad blood.

The removal of his name, for example, isn't a result of the fact that he was fired, but what lead to him being fired. He probably said some offensive shit in the heat of the moment that offended higher ups in the company. Likely much of the same kind of shit gamers are saying now, like how Kojima is all Konami has left and how Konami is nothing without Kojima, and how Konami is a shell of what it once was. Not saying I agree with Konami, but pettyness like this doesn't come from nowhere. Especially when the pettiness is coming from a multimillion dollar corperation. No, this is a response to something Kojima did, and it must have been pretty bad.

I agree. I don't really care about the legacy of MGS or whatever, but its sad that franchises like Castlevania and Contra are pretty much dead now.

I think we all know the reason why Kojima got axed and its because of his long development cycle and Konami wants their investment to return to them faster and bigger. It was not a question of Kojima not making money.

However, I think the rumors on how they fired Kojima and the rest of his team, along with the removal of his brand on the MGS game was the thing that gave a bad impression on Konami.