Kojima Productions Corporate Director Ken-Ichiro Imaizumi has left the company, according to a VGC report.
Imaizumi had worked for Kojima Productions for nearly twenty years, and has taken part in the production and development of many well-known and beloved titles, including Silent Hill, Castlevania, Suidoken, and the majority of the Metal Gear franchise. Imaizumi also oversaw the production of this year’s Death Stranding, which has received generally favorable reviews despite some critics describing it as slow-paced and “boring.”
First reported by Video Games Chronicle (VGC), the reason behind Imaizumi’s departure from the studio is unclear, though the site also claims an unnamed source says it was “due to a disagreement with Kojima Productions’ other directors.” VGC then goes on to state that Imaizumi was absent from the world tour undertaken by Hideo Kojima in promotion of Death Stranding. VGC reached out to both Kojima Productions and Imaizumi himself for comment, but has not received an answer as of yet.
Kojima Productions is a Japanese game development studio originally founded in 2005 by Hideo Kojima, most well-known as the creator of the Metal Gear franchise. First established as a subsidiary of Konami in Tokyo, the company was temporarily disbanded when Kojima left Konami in 2015—and was then reformed by Kojima as an independent studio.
Death Stranding, the latest title to come from Kojima Productions, launched on November 8, 2019 for PlayStation 4, and is scheduled for a Windows release sometime in 2020. Interested readers can check out Gaming Instincts’ Death Stranding Survival guide here, as well as writer Tristan Reyes’ take on the game in his review here.
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