Summary
Hideo Kojima helped create the iconicMetal Gear Solidseries, but his name is being left off the new credits for the upcomingMetal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 1. Hideo Kojima got his start working for Konami’s MSX home computer division in 1986, where he helped develop the originalMetal Gear. This would spawnthe highly successfulMetal Gear Solidseries, which made Kojima a household name.
Unfortunately, Hideo Kojima’s relationship with Konami seemingly soured during the development ofMetal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain, which was released to near-universal acclaim in 2015. Despite its success, Konami announced that it would becutting ties with Kojimaand his in-house development studio Kojima Productions as part of a controversial corporate restructuring shortly before its release, and as a result his name was left out of the marketing for bothThe Phantom Painand its prequelMetal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes. Kojima and his team have since moved on to other projects likeDeath Strandingand an unnamed Xbox-exclusive title.
It looks like Konami is continuing to downplay Hideo Kojima’s involvement in theMetal Gear Solidseries, as many Twitch streamers who got to playMetal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 1before its launch later this week are reporting that he isn’t mentioned in the compilation’s new credits. Instead, the wrappers for each game in theMaster Collectionsimply contain a message thanking “all originalMetal Gearseries staff and fans.” It’s worth pointing out that Kojima and many other members of the originalMetal Gear Soliddevelopment staff are still listed in the individual credits of each game, as they are unaltered from the original releases.
Hideo Kojima isn’tthe only big name left offofMetal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 1’s new credits, as David Hayter (the longtime voice of Solid Snake before being recast by Kiefer Sutherland inMetal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain) was also left unnamed. The rest of the voice cast for the entries remastered inMaster Collection Vol. 1, consisting of the originalMetal Gear,Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake,Metal Gear Solid,Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty,andMetal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, were also simply grouped with the collection’s “thank you” message.
The issue ofaddressing the creators of a gamein a future remaster was brought up earlier this year withMetroid Prime Remastered, which similarly left the original Retro Studios staff unmentioned in favor of a generic message saying that the remaster was “based on the work of Metroid Prime original Nintendo GameCube and Wii Version development staff.” WhileMetal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 1does at least acknowledge Hideo Kojima in the original credits for each game, his omission from the collection’s new credits will likely spark even more division amongMetal Gear Solidfans.
Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 1will be released on October 24th for PC, PS5, Switch, and Xbox Series X/S.
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