Even Kojima screwed Hayter over. They remove him from the role of Snake only to give Kiefer Sutherland virtually zero lines.
I suspect that was more a matter of pressure from higher up in Konami than Kojima's creative choices. Paying to shoehorn a big-name actor into an established series for publicity's sake is more a corporate-level move than something you'd expect from the series' director, especially when the actor in question has a relatively small number of lines (which suggests they were too expensive to give a bigger role to).
Actually. It was kojimas idea to bring in keifer. In a interview i saw years ago. He said he always wanted a big hollywood name in his games. If it was his choice. Kurt russell would have been Big boss in snake eater. But due to fan outrage and money budget. He brought hayter back
Huh. Go figure. I guess it wasn't executive meddling, then.