On March 19, an anonymous employee reported to GameSpot that these changes were a result of conflicts between Kojima and Konami. The employee stated that Kojima and his staff were now being treated as contracted workers rather than employees, Konami had blocked access to their corporate e-mail and phone systems, and that Kojima and the studio's senior staff planned to leave Konami in December 2015 following the conclusion of their contracts and the release of "The Phantom Pain". A Konami spokesperson denied that Kojima was leaving the company, and stated that he would still be involved with Konami and the "Metal Gear" franchise. On March 20, Konami stated on its website that Kojima would stay through at least the completion of "The Phantom Pain", and that it was recruiting staff to develop future "Metal Gear" games. Kojima confirmed in a statement that he was still "100% involved" in "The Phantom Pain", and was "determined to make it the greatest game I've directed to date". Actress Donna Burke, who had been involved in the game, claimed in a posting on Twitter that Kojima had been fired; Konami denied these claims and Burke revoked her statement.