In a previous report, "Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain" is said to have won two awards at 2015 Game Awards celebration last Dec 3. In lieu of Hideo Kojima, who reportedly was banned by Konami from attending the ceremony, Keifer Sutherland accepted the awards. Sutherland is known to be the voice behind Snake in "MGSV."
With Kojima keeping mum since the release of "Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain" many reports suggest that he has already left Konami. But according to the Verge, Konami said that Kojima is still an employee and that he was simply on vacation. Apparently, that doesn't seem to be the case as what everybody had witness during the 2015 Game Awards.
Producer of The Game Awards Geoff Keighley said, "Mr. Kojima had every intention of being with us tonight, but unfortunately he was informed by a lawyer representing Konami just recently that he would not be allowed to travel to tonight's award ceremony to accept any awards. He's still under an employment contract and it's disappointing."
In a report ran by Design and Trend, it is said that the 2015 Game Awards is not the only event that Konami has banned Kojima from accepting a well-earned award. It was reported that recently a rep has accepted an award in behalf of Kojima at PlayStation Awards.
Thankfully, Geoff Keighley had agreed to a Reddit AMA in which fans were able to ask the burning if he knew Kojima was not allowed to attend the Game Awards. One AMA participant bluntly asked, "What led to your decision to announce the reason Kojima was unable to go? Has Konami contacted you about it? Has Kojima? And were there any repercussions for it? Also just have to say, it was awesome you did that, IMO the best part of the awards.
His honest reply was, "It just broke my heart that he couldn't be with us - something had to be said. I didn't tell anyone on the show team what I was going to say and it wasn't rehearsed."
It seems that there is now some sort of legal battle between Kojima and Konami as "a lawyer representing Konami" has intervened. Given the situation it looks like what is happening between Konami and Kojima is beyond "being under an employment contract."
