It’s been over four years now since Konami and Hideo Kojima parted ways in a rather public dispute upon the release of Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain. Despite the public nature of everything, it’s still not entirely clear what happened and neither side seems to want to open up about it anytime soon. Kojima left to form Kojima Productions and while it was known that some other Konami talent left with him, with the release of Death Stranding, we now know the extent.
Now that Death Stranding is out and people have poured through the credits, 67 of the 120 core development staff on the game were former Konami talent, with almost every lead design and art position being former Metal Gear staff (via VGC).
Kojima would be the creator and spearhead of the Metal Gear series for almost three decades, so it’s not too hard to believe he formed some pretty strong bonds with many of his colleagues in that time period. With Death Stranding out now on PS4, let’s hope it all pays off for them.