UPDATE:Â It appears things are a lot worse than originally anticipated. Gamespot have spoken to a source within Kojima Productions and reports “senior staff at the studio being restricted access to corporate internet, emails, and phone” after a fallout between the developer and Konami.
They report that “power struggles” have resulted in senior employees loosing their permanent status and essentially becoming contractors.
“After we finish MGSV, Mr. Kojima and upper management will leave Konami. They said their contract ends in December,” claimed the source.
It appears Kojima will be kept away from the press so he cannot discuss the problems, the source states that he will have ” limited opportunities” to promote The Phantom Pain.
The future of  Silent Hills now appears in doubt, with Kojima gone, Del Toro probably won’t want to work with Konami and the project is dead in the water.
The original version of this story is below.
Shenanigans are afoot at Konami as they have recently published new executive appointment form which no longer lists Hideo Kojima as Executive Content Officer.
The Kojima Productions LA website now redirects straight to Konami and Metal Gear Solid V has a new Twitter account and a new website. Job listings that were on the Kojima Pro website are now listed for Konami Los Angeles Studio.
The words “A Hideo Kojima Game” have been removed from adverts and promotional material  for Metal Gear Solid V:Ground Zeroes, Metal Gear V: The Phantom Pain and the Legacy Collection.
In a statement provided to VideoGamer, a Konami representative said: “Konami Digital Entertainment, including Mr. Kojima, will continue to develop and support Metal Gear products. Please look forward to future announcements.”
Konami declined to comment on the reasons for Hideo’s name being removed the Metal Gear V branding.
Kojima has been quite clear that MGSV would be his last ever Metal Gear game, how that fits in with Konami’s statement that he will “continue to develop and support Metal Gear products” is a mystery. Of course, Kojima said Metal Gear Sold IV was his last Metal Gear game as well.
Some have speculated that this is a joke, an early April Fool’s and part of Kojima’s hilarious (not) misdirection campaign. I am certain it is not, the listing of Executive Appointments is an official document and the removal Hideo’s name from the branding is not something that would be done lightly.
There are a number of possibilities, perhaps Kojima resigned his post and his studio is winding down and merging with Konami ahead of the launch of The Phantom Pain. Perhaps Kojima has left the company in a full time capacity but is staying on for the remainder of The Phantom Pain’s development as an advisor, much like Fumito Ueda did with The Last Guardian.
However, the most realistic reason from the removal of Kojima is that Konami are in the middle of a restructuring plan.
“As we have already announced, we are shifting our production structure to a headquarters-controlled system, in order to establish a steadfast operating base capable of responding to the rapid market changes that surround our digital entertainment business,” the company told EuroGamer.
The “headquarters-controlled system” means that games would be promoted as Konami titles, rather that the produce of the studios, in this case a Hideo Kojima game.
A recent press release  for The Phantom Pain stated that Konami, not Kojima Productions, had created the Fox Engine, and not a single mention is made of Kojima. An almost identical press release, released just two days before, included mention of both.
Personally I think Hideo was working late and discovered one of his staff had not ordered any hot food and a fracas ensued.
We will update this if any new information comes to light.
Source: NeoGAF / EuroGamer / Videogamer
nouveller
It would be a shame to lose Kojima’s close relationship with Metal Gear, as he’s obviously tied so tightly with the game and the brand. At the very least, I hope it doesn’t impact MGSV, I doubt it would though. Hopefully Konami can confirm ASAP.
CrawFail
Ears to the ground are telling me it’s something to do with a restructuring of their upper management and he might no long hold the VP role at Konami.
Who knows, but I very much doubt this will have an impact on MGSV.
Starman
Hasn’t he said every MGS game is the last since metal gear 3? Its probably some cunning ruse to trick us all.
Jag
If true this is terrible news. PT was the most brilliant teaser ever and implied an exciting direction for Silent Hills.
MGS5 still looks amazing but this is really worrying for the Metal Gear franchise.
One tiny silver lining is the prospect of a truly new albeit smaller project from a newly independent but still brilliant Kojima.
CrawFail
Yeah, I’m gutted for PT/Silent Hills.. Hopefully something can be salvaged there. he’s apparently under Konami in almost a freelance capacity, though if he’s had his name taken from the game he’s most associated with, I can’t imagine he’s going to be happy to continue with them.
He’ll either carry on with his own company, possibly taking every talented person on his team with him and creating something else, or he’ll retire and possibly only return to games development as a creatvie director type.
I really, REALLY hope Silent Hills comes out of this. And not by being passed on to some other cretin with half an idea.
The Lone Steven
Konami may have just put the final nail in their coffin by driving Kojima away. They seem to only have PES and MGS as their major franchises. Everything else is either dead, dying or inactive. Kojima was planning on leaving the franchise but i do wonder if they had a row about the future fo the franchise or if Konami wanted Kojima productions to put in a feature that didn’t fit into their vision or worse, mircrotransactions or DLC. Turning all of them into contractors without any notice is a dick move and effectively killing the studio. Removing Kojima and his team from all MGS promotional material is a bit concerning and i hope Konami won’t turn into an publisher that abuses their staff, milks everything and kills their own franchises.
On the plus side, Kojima may set up his own studio and team up with other developers to bring us wonderful games.
Kennykazey
So, Kojima is leaving Konami after his contract runs out according to Gamespot. Seems it really will be his last Metal Gear (at least under that IP).
three_leg_jake
The word is losing not loosing…god that gets my goat!