Entire Kojima Productions Staff Laid Off Months Ahead of Schedule

Tokyo based Konami recently announced that they had have laid off the the entire staff of their subsidiary Kojima Productions months before the initially planned date. While most big studios wait until their game actually comes before laying off as many employees as possible, Konami claims it is saving tens of millions of dollars by just doing it now before their upcoming game, Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, actually releases.
Konami president Tomohiro Uesugi assured fans and investors alike that this move is nothing but good for the company. In releasing the 200+ employees of the company, Konami stands to save more than three million on employee salaries alone. Salaries they would have otherwise been paying until they inevitably laid those workers off once the game was released in mid-May. Not to mention all the money they’ll be saving on not having to power the building the former employees used to occupy or buy cake every time a mid-level manager has a birthday. According to Uesugi, the funds accumulated from the layoffs will be used “either for new employees in the future, or a line of kickass executives limo.”

Although the game isn’t yet finished, fans can expect to get most of the game available on launch day and the rest probably never coming. “I mean, stop whining, it’s mostly done,” said the Konami CEO in an address to gamers, “how many textures and voice-overs do you really need? By the end of the game you’ve heard Snakes voice enough, just fill in the blanks yourself. It’s called imagination.”

Distribution of the upcoming game, which Uesugi says wasn’t taken care of before the mass layoffs, will be handled through a series of unpaid internships. Konami is targeting Tokyo as the likely source of many of these interns upon hearing there is now around 200 recently unemployed looking for work.