Assistant Producer of Metal Gear Solid 4, Ryan Payton, has left Kojima Productions (the studio behind the game), due to family-related reasons. Payton was a compelling force in the title, as well as in MGS: Portable Ops, encouraging a more "Western" approach to the controls, making the game much more accessible for all (remember looking like a complete noob for the first hours of previous MGS titles?).

By the sounds of an interview with him back in June, Payton seemed he would be at least one of the main designers behind future titles in the series, but obviously, this is no longer to pass.

Details really aren't necessary for why Payton left in circumstances like this, but he did say in an interview with Kotaku "all of this has reminded me about how important family is." And so he decided to quit, and continue his career in North America to be closer to them.

"It's not easy leaving my other family (the MGS team), but with everybody taking time off and not having any other big projects to shift focus to, it feels like this is how it's supposed to be," said Payton. "It's fate."

He certainly won't be hard up for work (he's already gotten offers), but for now he'll just be taking it easy before deciding where to go from here. The dream, Payton says, is to get an original game concept out there (he's got plenty of ideas), so look for his skilled hand in some future titles.