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Rumour: Kojima Productions cofounder Ken Imaizumi left the company

Bomi-Chan

Bomi-Chan

Member
Nov 8, 2017
665
Imaizumi, who has been a well-known figure at Kojima Productions for almost 20 years, was a founding member of the new independent Kojima Productions. As corporate director, he oversaw all production on Death Stranding.

During the studio's previous incarnation at Konami, Imaizumi worked on every Metal Gear Solid title since 2001's Sons of Liberty. Most recently, he was producer for Guns of the Patriots, The Phantom Pain and Metal Gear Rising.

The reason for the veteran's departure remains unclear, but one source claimed it was due to a disagreement with Kojima Productions' other directors.
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Source: https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/ken-imaizumi-departs-kojima/


so according to the news, the directors of the companies had different opinions... and in the end he left.
he was always present when it came to social events surrounding kojima, now during death stranding, he was absent.

i wonder if he got problems with kojima(like kojima and konami), which made him leave the company...

What do you think, ERA?
 
Kuro

Kuro

Member
Oct 25, 2017
20,582
Possible he's not interested in dabbling in film like Kojima mentioned or he doesn't want to do a horror game.

Lots of drivebys and shitposting gonna happen ITT tho.

Shame he's leaving considering how quick the turn around on DS' development was and how polished the game is.
 
PlanetSmasher

PlanetSmasher

The Abominable Showman
Member
Oct 25, 2017
115,485
I don't know how worth it it is to speculate on this, because people leave companies for lots of reasons, and the best time to bail on a company is right after a major project launch. Maybe he just decided it was time to move on. 20 years with the same team (and the same Kojima) is a long time.
 
Van Bur3n

Van Bur3n

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
26,089
Uh oh, I'm sensing a little drama llama, if you know what I mean. Oh my, this ought to be spicy. Yowza yowza, hubba hubba. Boyoyoyoyoyoyoing.
 
5taquitos

5taquitos

Member
Oct 27, 2017
12,867
OR
PlanetSmasher said:
I don't know how worth it it is to speculate on this, because people leave companies for lots of reasons, and the best time to bail on a company is right after a major project launch. Maybe he just decided it was time to move on. 20 years with the same team (and the same Kojima) is a long time.
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Pretty much this. 20 years is a long fucking time for any job.
 
Servbot24

Servbot24

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
43,059
Bring on the shitposts.

Hope he's moving on to something exciting. He's done fantastic work the last 20 years.
 
Sawyer

Sawyer

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 26, 2017
4,234
He probably came to Kojima's new studio to help it get it running but had no intention on working another 20 years with the same creatives. Nothing crazy.
 
Betty

Betty

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
17,604
He was also absent from the recent World Tour Kojima did, he probably just wants to move on.
 
Van Bur3n

Van Bur3n

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
26,089
Yo yo yo, can I get a little bit of that inside scoop on what's going down in Kojima town? Sccccccchewwww scccccccccheeeeewwwwwwwww, in-in-in-in-inside scooooooop (inside scooop).
 
Valcon

Valcon

Member
Oct 28, 2017
284
Chile
Capture-23-768x413.png
 
ActWan

ActWan

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
2,334
nothing is confirmed it's just "sources told VGC". He was retweeting DS stuff just yesterday
 
Lukar

Lukar

Unshakable Resolve - Prophet of Truth
Member
Oct 27, 2017
23,351
He's been with KojiPro for almost twenty years. I'd say it's more likely that he's just spent enough time with them and wants to move on than it is that there's any bad blood.
 

Bundy

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
20,931
Pryme said:
founding members of a company at director level do not often leave as soon as a first project is done.
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This guy did. Death Stranding is done. Looks like he didn't wanna be there anymore and left this new company after this project was done. That's about it.
NotLiquid said:
This is a founding member who's been with Kojima since MGS2. Let's not brush this under the rug as some small deal, regardless of why he left.
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Yeah. A new company. Project is done. He didn't like it anymore as it seems and left. And that's it.
 
Jager

Jager

Chicken Chaser
Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,172
UK
I doubt there's any bad blood between Ken and Kojima, the guy is still very active on Twitter tweeting all about Death Stranding and the World Strand Tour.
 
Josecitox

Josecitox

Member
Oct 25, 2017
390
Argentina
Ken is the coolest Kojima partner besides his assistant Ayako, really cool and chill guy. I hardly believe he simply moved on from the company unless there's a strong disagreement with the future of it and he basically said "i'm done". Wish him nothing but the best.

One thing that i find curious is how he completely switched his twitter profile to japanese, he's a fluent english speaker and has always use twitter to talk to fans in english for the most part.
 
Kalor

Kalor

Resettlement Advisor
Member
Oct 25, 2017
19,625
The project is done so I imagine he just wanted to move on. As people have mentioned, they've even been retweeting DS stuff recently so I doubt it was a bad split.
 
Van Bur3n

Van Bur3n

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
26,089
Bundy said:
This guy did. Death Stranding is done. Looks like he didn't wanna be there anymore and left this new company after this project was done. That's about it.

Yeah. A new company. Project is done. He didn't like it anymore as it seems and left. And that's it.
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That's about it, that's about it, that's about it. You're quick to try to shut this down. What are you trying to hide from us, the public? The consumers? Something spicy, eh? *sssssssssssssssss*
 
Garrod Ran

Garrod Ran

self-requested ban
Banned
Mar 23, 2018
16,203
i heard it was because Kojima got mad that Imaizumi didn't follow him on twitter

my source: me
 
packy17

packy17

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
2,901
I would wait for a better source on this. His Twitter page still lists him as part of the company and he's been retweeting DS stuff as late as yesterday.
 

Deleted member 60410

Banned
Oct 3, 2019
837
Kojima probably kept stealing his lunch out of the work fridge and they got into a fist fight over it. I can't think of any other theory that makes sense.
 
NotLiquid

NotLiquid

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
34,748
ActWan said:
nothing is confirmed it's just "sources told VGC". He was retweeting DS stuff just yesterday
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I don't think him RTing Death Stranding stuff means too much in the context of a departure. Yusuke Hashimoto was tweeting Bayonetta stuff between the day of his departure from PlatinumGames and the actual announcement of his departure weeks later (and he still RTs Bayonetta stuff to this day). I'm sure if Imaizumi departed it wasn't in bad blood, and I doubt he'd be any less proud of his work on Death Stranding to not want to RT stuff for it.
 

Deleted member 8593

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 26, 2017
27,176
Looks like Kojima made a game about doing something he couldn't achieve in real life. A true artiste with hard E.
 
Dothraki Horse

Dothraki Horse

Banned
Dec 28, 2017
495
Maybe he had enough of Kojima madness and if you stay close to him... you will question your sanity. Kojima likes to have his name engraved on everything and this part says a little bit about his personality.
 
danrbg

danrbg

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Dec 9, 2018
733
Maybe it was a bad idea for him to work alongside Kojima without Konami's controls.
 
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