Metal Gear does not need Hideo Kojima...

 But Hideo Kojima NEEDS Metal Gear! First let's get something out of the way.

DeathStrandingはひどいテレビゲームです

Roughly translates to Death Stranding is an awful videogame. I put it in Google Translate Japanese so Hideo and his 3 inches of Doom can understand it. The reason it's awful is not that "Americans prefer FPS games". The reason it's awful is because of Hideo Kojima's ego. But this is not a Death Stranding sucked because 30 years later Kojima is still doing the same storytelling mistakes that plagued the 8-bit Metal Gear games. It's not about him trying to rub elbows with B, C and D-list celebrities as he attempts to penetrate Hollywood with his 3 inches of Doom. This is a rant about Metal Gear Solid moving on from Hideo Kojima.

There have been rumors about Metal Gear Solid remakes for quite some time and Kojima fanboys are screaming that Hideo Kojima NEEDS to be at the helm, or at least as a consultant... 

It's a freaking remake of an existing game, which means that the story and direction are already done and most of the work should be focused on the gameplay.

There is no need to have Kojima micromanaging a remake... Now if we WERE to have a NEW entry, is Hideo Kojima needed? THAT IS THE QUESTION that needs to be answered. Of course, many Kojima fans will say that without Kojima there is no Metal Gear. I kinda get what they're saying, since the Kojima-less games "have mostly been less than stellar".

Others say that Kojima NEEDS to be at least used as a consultant... I would agree with this stance had Kojima's departure from Knoami had been amicable... but we know that wasn't the case. In this break-up there are no good guys. We know the horror stories of working at Konami. But we also must unerstand that Hideo Kojima had a lot of issues with delays and going over budget. Not to mention that the games didn't get the great reception at first... even Snake Eater got some flak, hence the Subsistence rerelease with new camera angle. 

But, since I've been kinda disappointed in Kojima lately, I'm going to say a VERY UNPOPULAR opinion:

Kojima is no longer needed for Metal Gear. If Konami played it smart, they already have the templates for MULTIPLE GAMES by the way of remakes.

Remaking The 2D Metal Gear games (MG, MG2:Solid Snake) allows to close the MGSV dual Big Bosses loop... The "non-canon" Snake's revenge can be used to tie links from the 2D games to the Solid 3D games by turning it into Metal Gear Liquid. The NES port of the Original MG and the Gameboy game, Ghost Babel, can be used to expand Raiden's role as bonus elaborate simulations for a RE:VR Missions.

MGS RE, could get a Gray Fox expansion, where the story is played from Fox's perspective. The same could be done for MGS2 and Pliskin. All of this is just "running on remakes" without touching "new material". 

What do I mean with "New Material"? A WWII game with the Cobra Unit fighting Nazis could be one of those. A Solidus Peace Walker type game in Liberia, a SECOND Liquid game (not Snake's revenge) where the plans for the Shadow Moses Incident are set in motion in the end. Even Raiden could get his own game with a prequel to MGS4 before he becomes a cyborg.

Linking the story to the existing games wouldn't be THAT hard, if the proper care is taken to ensure very few continuity hiccups. Even mimicking Kojima's style is not rocket science.

It's all about the references, the faux depth, the pseudo philosophical pretentiousness, the tributes to film directors, the occasional 4th wall breaking, the easter eggs/nods to past games, and the massive info dump on the third act. 

As I say this, I also must point out that the Metal Gear Saga doesn't have that much more room left to sustain too many new games. Not to mention that I don't trust Konami enough to do the series justice.