Several European sites have confirmed that Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain’s final cover no longer has credits to Hideo Kojima or Kojima Productions.
ConsoleWars.de, 4players.de, and Multiplayer.it all share photographic proof that Kojima’s name is nowhere on the final covers for the retail disc version of the game. This is true for both the versions that have the Day One Edition label on them and the ones that do not.
Further details are sparse, but at this point, there is no more any surprise on what is going on. This all started with rumors from March that relations between Kojima and Konami had simmered, leading to the Kojima Productions name being retired. Just a few days ago, one of the game’s voice actors flatly confirmed that the studio really has been dissolved, forcibly to boot.
Following the fallout of the initial controversy, fans noticed that Konami returned Kojima’s name to the Metal Gear Solid games, except for Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain. However, something else came to light that should have been a telltale sign.
UK retailer GAME posted a listing of the game cover without Kojima’s name last April. It seems they had copies of the final cover images well in advance after all.
Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain will be released on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One on September 1, and on Steam on September 15.
