Hideo Kojima and Geoff Keighley have been pictured at Konami's Midtown HQ, begging the question – is the MGS creator about to break his public silence? “I ran into Geoff in front of Godzilla” claims the tweet, but an accidental meeting between the much-debated MGS creator and the host of The Game Awards seems implausible.
Look who I ran into. Good times with a good friend in Tokyo today. pic.twitter.com/7mtlY8vY5SMay 11, 2015
I ran into Geoff in front of Godzilla. pic.twitter.com/dznCuUELDZ”May 11, 2015
Keighley worked closely with Kojima on the announcement of 'The Phantom Pain' trailer at the VGA awards in late 2012, and was clearly in on the 'Joakim Mogren' joke - where Kojima managed to fool the world for all of, ooh, six hours, that the Swedish Moby Dick Studios was a real developer, and TPP might be unrelated to Metal Gear Solid 5.
Keighley has long been Kojima's preferred broadcast partner, including the utterly bizarre 'interview' with head bandage-sporting fake game developer Joakim Mogren on Gametrailers in March 2013.
It's also slightly odd that both Keighley and Kojima's tweet concerning the chance meeting uses the word 'ran into' - almost like it had been agreed, perhaps at PR level. Kojima also tweeted a weird follow up picture of Godzilla “What happened to Godzilla's teeth?! Oh no!”.
What happened to Godzilla's teeth?! Oh no! pic.twitter.com/JfdzyslEYr”May 11, 2015
Is that a bit of paper wedged in there?
So what are Kojima and Keighley planning, if anything? We'll have to wait and see. Back on March 19, when the first 'Kojima fired' rumours broke, Keighley did appear to be genuinely surprised.
Thinking of my dear friend @HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN today and hoping all these rumors aren't true.March 19, 2015
When I was struggling last year to figure out what to do with The Game Awards, Hideo always supported me and had my back.March 19, 2015
After the show, he gave me a ninja figurine as a gift. He said it was because I worked like a ninja to make sure the show happened.March 19, 2015
This is what Hideo gave me. He has given us so many gifts over the years. pic.twitter.com/f7GEBbQYXyMarch 19, 2015
It is slightly odd that Kojima's gift to Keighley would be Cyborg Ninja who is (potential spoilers) rumoured to be the true identity of the scarred Venom Snake playable character in MGS5. Going full looking glass, few of Kojima's tweets are accidental, and he has often used twitter to tease MGS5 plot threads and themes.
Before the 'firing' rumours broke, and pre-Kojima's Twitter silence, the MGS creator tweeted:
Under construction. pic.twitter.com/O3czaCxpZQMarch 9, 2015
Now, it's almost certainly just an image relating to the customisable Mother Base in MGS5, right? It's not like something else could be 'under construction'… that might be about to have the plastic sheets whipped off anytime soon? Probably not. It's not like there's a major video game show around the corner where people tend to make announcements or anything, is there?
Oh. I need a coffee.
