Traces of Hideo Kojima appear in Metal Gear Survive

Not long after Metal Gear Survive was released, creator Hideo Kojima bluntly stated that he had nothing to do with the project, saying that zombies did not fit the vision of the series. While Kojima had nothing to do with development, no one could stop him from appearing in this game.

At the beginning of the game Metal Gear Survive, the player will see a list of the agents’ codenames, including their names next to the iconography. Discovered by Twitter account Michael Yurko, their first letter (last name) is a combination of “KJP FOREVER” – KJP is commonly used as an abbreviation for Kojima Productions in Konami (or Kojima Productions forever).

You can see them later, but written backwards.

Am I the only one who saw “KoJima Productions FOREVER?” using the first letter of the highlighted code names? @HEITAIs #MetalGearSurvive #MGSurvive pic.twitter.com/NrYGVmwm8J

— Michael Yurko (@NourishedPsyche) February 24, 2018

It’s likely that this is just random, but Metal gear has long been known for its humorous secrets in games. While Kojima isn’t the first, we can expect his former members to continue to carry this legacy into Metal Gear Survive.

If this is indeed intentionally included in the game, this could be the development team’s way of quietly protesting against the way Konami is treating Kojima and the direction Konami is heading. In recent years, Konami has continuously stopped developing games, with the exception of Metal Gear and Pro Evolution Soccer, to focus on other projects such as pachinko machines. Along with that was the controversial decision to ban Kojima from receiving the Metal Gear Solid 5 award at The Game Wards and cancel the Silent hills project, which made Konami look unfriendly.

Konami is also accused of having a toxic working environment, which may also be the reason why the development team silently objected. Whatever the reason, let’s see if references to Kojima can continue to be found in Metal Gear Survive.