Following up on rumours of Kojima Productions LA closing down and staff being laid off, Konami released an official statement confirming the closure.

As per GameSpot, the statement read, “Konami has made the decision to close its Los Angeles Studio, effective immediately, due to the product development resources being restructured into a more centralized unit.

“This facility contributed to the recent Metal Gear Solid games. Konami will continue its operations to support all Metal Gear Solid titles, including the recently launched Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain and Metal Gear Online. Metal Gear Online is still scheduled to release for PC Steam in January 2016.”

Known previously as Kojima Productions LA, the studio was renamed to Konami Los Angeles following the split between Hideo Kojima and Konami. The closure of the LA studio furthers rumours that Konami will be slowing down its AAA game ventures and focusing more on mobile and pachinko. Hopefully those laid off from the studio will be able to find gainful employment soon.