“couldn't even talk to them – he had to talk through someone else. That's how that game was finished.”
— Geoff Keighley
According to Keighley, during the last six months of development of Metal Gear Solid V, Konami kept Kojima locked in a room on another floor, so he could not speak directly with his team and had to communicate through an intermediary.
“It was my first time meeting him, but I feel like we've known each other since childhood. I think we are going to be good friends.”
“When she defeated The End she called me up and said: 'It is finished'.”
“There was a sort of legend at Konami, that if you got involved in this project, you'd up demoted or transferred. (laughs) [...] once we got a working build running, and they saw that exclamation mark pop up when the enemy gets surprised, that sold them on the concept.”
Kojima spent almost three decades at Konami, beginning in 1986. In 2015, amid a bitter split, Konami removed Kojima's name from Metal Gear Solid V marketing; at The Game Awards in December 2015 the game won awards but Kojima did not attend, reportedly barred from attending by Konami. That same month Kojima re-established Kojima Productions as an independent studio partnered with Sony. Silent Hills had been cancelled in April 2015.
In a September 2011 essay, Kojima wrote that each time a new Metal Gear came out he declared to the press that it would be the last he would make. He explained that all stories and all creators have an end, and that he wanted to bring his own story to its conclusion before he reached his.