Metal Gear Survive Devs Seemingly Can't Let Go of Kojima

Metal Gear Survive is a lukewarm game hiding a passionate surprise.

One player believes they discovered a hidden shout-out to former Metal Gear director and Konami pariah Hideo Kojima within the depths of Survive. The screenshot includes a clipboard containing a list of squad names written in Metal Gear Solid's traditional "Adjective-Animal" fashion (e.g. "Hungry Komodo Dragon"). The first letter of each animal name seemingly spells out a war-cry: "KJP FOREVER." Or, "Kojima Productions Forever."

The salute to Kojima Productions is capped by two final names at the bottom of the list: "Bastard Yota and Cunning Yuji." Yota Tsutsumizaki is the director of Metal Gear Survive, and Yuji Korekado is its producer.

Redditor "1005Horatio" posted the screenshot of the "silent screams" from Metal Gear Survive's development team over on the PlayStation 4 subreddit. There's been a lot of solemn nodding and cheering in response. Hideo Kojima is long gone from Konami and is currently hip-deep in his own game (whatever that entails), but his departure didn't occur on good terms. What's more, Konami's gained some infamy for its rumored poor treatment of its employees.

We can't say beyond a shadow of a doubt that this Metal Gear Survive memo isn't just a weird coincidence, but it undeniably comes across as a rebellious flare-up from deep within the folds of a huge company.

Metal Gear Solid may be regarded as a wounded animal right now, but there was a time when it was synonymous with innovative gameplay and deep (if sometimes befuddling) storytelling. We recently ranked the Metal Gear games from worst to best, and you should give that a read with a nice cup of coffee beside you.