Konami's treatment of Kojima is "cruel", bad for business", says ex-Square president

Former Square Enix president Yoichi Wada feels the way Konami has been treating Metal Gear solid creator Hideo Kojima is both "cruel" and bad for business.

In a candid post on his Facebook page translated by Kotaku, Wada said speaking from corporate execute's point of view, he feels the entire matter denotes a "lack of leadership."

"As I know Mr. Kojima, I want to say, I can’t believe this cruel treatment, reads the post. "But, here I’m going to give my thoughts as a corporate exec. However you think about this, this is a negative for business... but going out of your way to make enemies with the world has no meaning."

Wada mentioned Konami moving away from the home console business in his statement, one which the company denied after reports on the matter surfaced.

“Generally, this kind of thing happens when there’s a lack of leadership," he continued. "I think, perhaps, there isn’t someone in charge who is paying attention and laying out all the little details for whole enterprise.

“When you are not aware that the feelings of your own department aren’t aligned with the world at large, the results can be deplorable.”

Konami and Kojima have both been silent on what caused the supposed rift between them, but something odd is going on. During The Game Awards 2015, host Geoff Keighley announced the reason Keifer Sutherland took to the stage to accept an award for Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain in stead of Kojima was due to Konami barring him from attending.

He had planned to attend, but had been informed last minute by one of Konami’s lawyers we was not allowed to go to the awards.

Due to Kojima’s contractual obligations with the company, we likely won't know what happened until his contract expires.  It's said to end at some point during the month.

Wada stepped down as president of Square Enix earlier this year, and now heads up the company's Shinra Technologies which focuses on cloud-based gaming services.