David Hayter was very frank when speaking about his now ruptured past with Hideo Kojima and Konami. The famous "Solid Snake" voice actor spoke to the Game Informer podcast and talked at length about the lack of love he had between both parties in his time with the franchise.
From the very beginning, Hayter says, Kojima and Konami wanted someone else...
“She said, ‘We’re going forward, but it looks like they are going to try and replace you.’ They tried to do that before, and it never worked. They tried to get voice matches, and it never happened.”
Hayter especially ran into issues when the Big Boss story line was introduced into the franchise...
“I had to re-audition for Metal Gear 3 to play Naked Snake,” Hayter says. “They made me re-audition to play Old Snake, and the whole time, they were trying to find somebody else to do it. I heard that Kojima asked one of the producers on Metal Gear 3 to ask Kurt Russell if he would take over for that game. He didn’t want to do it.”
Hayter never really goes into exactly why Kojima didn't want Hayter, but does say when he was finally replaced he didn't hold it against his successor...
“It was annoying to me, because I thought that I had given a lot to the series and really helped promote it,” he tells us. “At the same time, I genuinely feel that the run I had as Snake was remarkable. If you get that once in your career, that’s amazing. I don’t have any ill will toward Kiefer Sutherland or anything like that. The whole thing could have been handled better and a little more respectfully, but I’m not going to cry about it.”
Sounds like Kojima was, as usual, always reaching for the stars. He refused to acknowledge that he had a star born from his own franchise! I'll admit I was sad to see Hayter go, and do hope at some point he reconciles with Kojima. Check out the full interview right here.
