Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain may be the last Metal Gear title developed between Kojima Productions and Konami, as several key developers will depart due to internal conflicts.

Earlier this month, Konami announced that the publisher and its partnered developers would be restructuring for a more “headquarters-controlled system” suited for monitoring digital market changes within the industry. Since the announcement, several changes have been made regarding Metal Gear Solid‘s online presence.

Dedicated fans of the upcoming Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain may have noticed that Konami removed the Kojima Productions logo from most of the promotional artwork for the anticipated stealth game; the Kojima Productions logo has also been removed from the promotional materials for Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes and Metal Gear Solid: The Legacy Collection. The recently established Los Angeles division of Kojima Productions has since been renamed to “Konami Los Angeles Studios”, and the official Twitter account of the Metal Gear franchise has been migrated to a new page; “@Kojima_Pro_Live” announced this morning that the account and all MGS-related info are moving to the new official account, “@metalgear_en”.

Two conflicting statements were issued today from within Konami, stating the future situation of Kojima Productions and their relationship with the publisher. According to an anonymous source within Konami, the upper management within Kojima Productions- including Hideo Kojima himself- have been reduced to contracted positions, with their terms ending in December. The source claims that once Kojima Productions finishes MGS V: The Phantom Pain, “Mr. Kojima and upper management will leave Konami.” Before their departure, the team is determined to “make a good game for fans”. A previous anonymous statement revealed that many Kojima Productions members were having their emails, phone calls and internal contacts restricted by Konami.

However, an official statement from a representative of Konami states that “Mr. Kojima will continue to develop and support Metal Gear products”. While Konami also encourages concerned fans to “look forward to future announcements”, the publisher has not yet commented on the mass removal of the Kojima Productions logo from Ground Zeroes, The Phantom Pain and The Legacy Collection.

A previous Tweet from Hideo Kojima’s Twitter account stated that Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain will close the circle on the MGS story line, and that this would possibly be his last Metal Gear Solid title.

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain will release on 9/1 for Xbox One, PS4, PC, 360 and PS3.

Sources: GameSpot, Konami, MGS V: TPP Official Website
Image courtesy of Kojima Productions