A new article from Nikkei (translated by freelance localizer Thomas James on Twitter and compiled here) has revealed new information on the overall budget for Metal Gear Solid 5 and why Hideo Kojima might have fallen out of favour with the company.
According to the article, the budget for Metal Gear Solid 5 has actually exceeded $80 million since April 2015 and that Kojima’s falling out of favour with the company was due to the game being delayed.
It also seems that Konami founder and chairman Kagemasa Kozuki has no desire for console titles with large budgets due to diminishing returns on investment. The success of Dragon Collection on mobile, developing on a sub-$1 million budget, was also a motivating factor in this regard.
That’s not even taking into the work culture that Konami has which includes time cards for employees on lunch breaks, re-allocating employees deemed “useless” to assembly line work and security detail and much more. One has to wonder how Konami will respond to these in the lead-up to Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain’s release on September 1st.