Ever since the debacle between Meta Gear creator Hideo Kojima and Konami we have been aware of one thing – Konami would be moving forward with the Metal Gear Solid with or without Kojima. This sentiment has been reiterated by Konami more than once, most recently by Konami's marketing executive Jon Edwards, saying, “Metal Gear Solid is a key Konami franchise. The company has already committed to future iterations, which we look forward to.”
According to new reports obtained Japanese financial publication, Nikkei, Konami has begun internal discussions on the next step in the Metal Gear franchise. “When we start development, a large-scale investment will become necessary,” said a Konami representative in the report – as translated by Kotaku.
With the ruckus around whether or not Kojima has really left the company, it's no surprise that Konami would look into funneling tons of money into the franchise. There would need to be some serious money put into advertising just to have the gaming community look favorably on the next game. At the moment, Konami is claiming that Kojima is on "vacation" even though images of his farewell party have surfaced. On top of this, reports claiming that Konami has shut down the Kojima Productions LA Studio (the studio responsible for Metal Gear Online) have surfaced.
Whatever is going on, it's too confusing to be comfortable. It would seem somewhat disingenuous for Konami to truly move forward with a Metal Gear game with Kojima, but we aren't even sure he's not a part of their plans.
