Metal Gear Survive Players Found a Hidden Kojima Reference

Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima might not have been involved in the creation of Metal Gear Survive, but some players have noticed that he's still a part of the game in at least one way.

The reference to the series' creator was spotted within the begging scenes of the game where players select their name and go through some introductory details. During these sequences, a clipboard is shown that includes a list of codenames. While the names like "Vengeful Mosquito" and "Glacier Viper" don't mean much on their own, the way that the majority of the names are organized spell out "KJP Forever," KJP being a common abbreviation used for Kojima Productions.

Two images shared by Michael Yurko on Twitter under the username NourishedPsyche show the highlighted names in question that reveal the cryptic message when the first letters of each last name are read vertically.

Am I the only one who saw “KoJima Productions FOREVER?” using the first letter of the highlighted code names? @HEITAIs #MetalGearSurvive #MGSurvive pic.twitter.com/NrYGVmwm8J

— Michael Yurko (@NourishedPsyche) February 24, 2018

It might look like a coincidence that the names were organized in such a way, but there's more than one telling detail that indicates the reference was intentional. In the second image from Yurko, the order of the names are inverted but still make the same reference, this time without the space that's found on the clipboard thanks to the "Heitai" name. However, that space is just as important in the first image. If the names were all pressed together and spelled out something, then sure, it could be a coincidence that players would notice something in the organization of the names. But with the "Heitai" name acting as a space in the "KJP Forever" phrase to separate the two, it's hard to imagine that it wasn't intentional.

Even if it was intentional though, it's still not known who exactly is responsible for putting the reference in. Somebody within Konami would've had to be responsible for the reference though, perhaps someone who misses Kojima's involvement in the series as much as some players do. With Metal Gear Survive being the first game in the series to be released without Kojima helming the project, long-time fans of the series were reserved in their expectations.

Metal Gear Survive is currently available for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.