The western cover of Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes saw the removal of Kazuhira “Kaz” Miller, leaving only Snake to dominate the artwork, and today Director Hideo Kojima took to Twitter to explain the reason behind the choice and share some more information on the issue.

The main visual of Ground Zeros was planned by me, as I normally want to plan the artwork and the promotion videos of my own work myself. However since Peace Walker was released first on PSP in the west, I thought the public's awareness of the character was low, so I left the decision for the west to the publishers.

He also mentioned that he was surprised by the reaction to the removal of Kaz, and that a version with Skull Face was originally planned.

But when we announced the western version I was surprised by to hear "Where did Kaz go? Why is he not there?" He's surprisingly popular.

I actually designed a version for the west with Skull Face and the bloodied Snake, like in the science fiction movie "Enemy Mine", but it was shelved because it looked like a horror.

Personally, I would have definitely preferred the original version with Kaz as well, even if my first choice will always be something similar to the classic Metal Gear Solid covers painted by Yoji Shinkawa. Unfortunately Kojima didn't show the version with Skull Face. I would have liked to see it, even just for the sake of curiosity.