Hideo Kojima was, unfortunately, forbidden to go to the game awards by Konami.

Geoff Keighley, the host of the The Game Awards 2015, shed some light as to why Kojima was unable to accept an award. Earlier in the week Keighley said, he was hoping Kojima would be able to make it to the game awards. Unfortunately, Konami would not allow it.

He stated, “Mr. Kojima had every intention of being with us tonight, but he was informed by a lawyer representing Konami, just recently. He would not be allowed to travel to tonight’s award ceremony to accept any awards.” He continued to say, “He’s still under an employment contract and it’s disappointing, and it’s inconceivable to me that an artist like Hideo would not be allowed to come here and celebrate with his peers and his fellow teammates.”

The award was given to Kojima Productions’ Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain for the best action/adventure game. Kiefer Sutherland, the voice actor of Big Boss in Metal Gear Solid V, accepted the award for Hideo Kojima.

According to GameSpot, “Kojima reportedly left Konami in October. In his contract is believed to be a non-compete clause that likely means he cannot sign with a new company until sometime in later December at the earliest.” Kojima first started working with Konami back in 1986 where he started to create the Metal Gear franchise. He also created Zone of the Enders, Snatcher, Policenauts, and Boktai.

I’m actually happy that someone finally acknowledged that Kojima and Konami were clashing against one another. It was incredibly silly how afraid Konami seemed to just acknowledged they and Kojima were conflicting against one another. So, I thank Geoff Keighley for revealing the problems the two parties were having.

According to GameSpot,

This is of course just one side of the story.

GameSpot has contacted Konami in an attempt to get more details.GameSpot first reported earlier this year that Kojima was likely to leave the company following the completion of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, which was released on September 1. A power struggle between Konami and Kojima Productions, the Kojima-led studio responsible for Metal Gear Solid, resulted in senior staff having limited access to emails, phone calls, and corporate Internet.

Also, back in July, the Japanese voice actor of Snake from the Metal Gear Solid series stated, Kojima Productions “no longer existed as a development studio.” He informed this after Silent Hills cancellation and the removal of Kojima’s name from Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain’s box art.

After Geoff Keighley stated the news involving Hideo Kojima and Konami, Stefanie Joosten perform “Quiet’s theme” from Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Stefanie Joosten is Quiet’s voice actress, and Quiet’s appearance is based off of Stefanie. This is something that fans most likely would’ve noticed. The performance was very classy, and I thought it was the best musical performance of the night.

To my recollection I believe this performance was also tribute to Hideo Kojima. So, that was why I thought the Stefanie’s performance was even more meaningful.