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The Japanese voice actor for Solid Snake says Kojima Productions, the studio behind the Metal Gear Solid series and the forthcoming Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain, has been disbanded.
Akio Otsuka's remarks on Twitter, translated from Japanese, said Kojima Productions "got dissolved," according to Kotaku. Kotaku notes that Otsuka used the word "kaisan," which in in Japanese means "break-up," such as when bands or other acts split.
Roughly translated, Otsuka says that "due to [Kojima Productions] hard effort, the game is just about finished. ... It's bound to be a supreme masterpiece ... Even if this is the last time, [Metal Gear Solid] lives forever."
コジプロは解散させられてしまったが、チームの奮闘により作品はどうやらほぼ完成となった。掛け値なしに最高の傑作となった筈！早く「待たせたな」と言いたくて仕方ない(笑)これが最期になったとしとも…MGS は 不滅 です！ コジプ... http://t.co/9zeTNDpNxp
— 大塚 明夫 (@AkioOtsuka) July 10, 2015
In March, Hideo Kojima's name and Kojima Productions' logo was taken down from Konami's Metal Gear Solid website, beginning a wave of speculation about not just the company's relationship with its longtime developer, but whether Konami would continue to make console video games like Metal Gear Solid at all.
In April, Konami abruptly canceled Silent Hills, a reboot of that franchise that Kojima and the director Guillermo Del Toro were working on together. The same month, the new president of Konami Digital Entertainment gave an interview in Japan that appeared to position the company for the development of mobile games, forsaking the console platforms Metal Gear has called home for more than 25 years.
Konami finally broke its silence at the end of May with an apology to longtime fans for causing anxiety about the company's future. Konami said it had undergone a comprehensive structural reorganization but remained committed to publishing console video games.
Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain launches Sept. 1 on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. Polygon has reached out to a Konami representative for comment on Otsuka's remarks.
