Konami said Kojima is still an employee at the company

After The New Yorker story about Kojima’s resignation went across the web, Konami said Kojima is still an employee at the company. The news left gamers thinking who is right and who is not as the statement contradicts The New Yorker story. However, TNY still had something on hand to prove its statement is correct.

Konami denied the story on TNY with the following statement to Tokyo Sports: “Currently, Kojima and the development team are finished developing Metal Gear Solid V and are taking a long time off from work.”

When replying to the question about the goodbye party, Konami responded with “We’re not sure what kind of thing this was.” The Konami rep continued with “Because the development time for console games is so long and fatigue builds up, it’s common for employees to take extended periods of time off when development is finished.”

While it’s common for people to take long vacations after the development of a game is complete, this ‘vacation’ doesn’t mean he will return to the company once his contract expires in December, according to a source.

However, the writer of the TNY story shared a picture of the farewell party on Twitter. It seems like Konami wasn’t aware of this.

Here is a photograph of Kojima's farewell party on October 9th at Konami, which Konami claims no knowledge of: pic.twitter.com/xgRUoYs5qt

— Simon Parkin (@SimonParkin) October 20, 2015

[Sources]: Kotaku: Konami Denies Hideo Kojima Has Left, Says He’s ‘On Vacation’; Tokyop Sports: 「メタルギア」小島秀夫氏の退社報道をコナミが否定　現在は長期休暇中.