On the contrary, Metal Gear Solid 5’s award was accepted by Kiefer Sutherland, the controversial new voice actor for Snake. Hideo Kojima, the creator of the Metal Gear Solid franchise, did plan on attending The Game Awards in person to accept the award himself, but quite simply, he was not allowed to do so.

As explained by The Game Awards 2015 host Geoff Keighley, Konami’s lawyers actually barred Kojima from traveling out of Japan to attend the show, as he is still under an employment contract with the company. This announcement was met with a chorus of boos from the audience, but his absence was not all that surprising when one considers that this isn’t even the first awards show he’s missed this year.

Hideo Kojima’s absence from The Game Awards 2015 marks yet another unfortunate bullet point in the ever-growing list of strange, controversial moves made by Konami in 2015. The publisher has fallen out of the good graces of the gaming community with one questionable decision after another, and at this point, it’s practically becoming routine.

For those that haven’t been following the Konami controversy closely, it all began when Konami reportedly fired Hideo Kojima, while also retroactively removing the Kojima Productions brand from the Metal Gear Solid games. This was followed by the permanent closure of Kojima Productions, the removal of P.T. from the PlayStation Store, and the heartbreaking cancellation of Silent Hills.

While Silent Hills star Norman Reedus holds out hope that the game will be finished, if The Game Awards 2015 is any indication, he shouldn’t hold his breath. The relationship between Hideo Kojima and Konami only seems to worsen as the months go on, and this latest move of keeping him from attending The Game Awards will only serve to further upset Konami’s dwindling fan base even further.

How do you feel about Konami barring Hideo Kojima from attending The Game Awards 2015? Do you think that the company should have allowed him to accept the award for Metal Gear Solid 5 in person? What do you think is really going on at Konami? Speculate with us in the comments below.

Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain is currently available for PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.