Kojima Productions – We are Homo Ludens. We are those who play.
Let’s be honest for a moment: nobody thought for a second that Hideo Kojima, creator of the Metal Gear Solid and Silent Hill series and head of the Kojima Productions sub-unit at Konami, would be sticking with the gaming giant after a tumultuous year. The writing has been on the wall for some time.
If the stories about their treatment of staff are to be believed – and there’s no indication at this point that they’re falsified – then it’s a wonder he lasted as long as he did. That, combined with the abandonment of the Silent Hills project (with Guillermo Del Toro and Norman Reedus) and the blatant attempts to retcon Kojima Productions from the Metal Gear Solid V release (including removing the Kojima Productions logo from everything, and barring the man himself from attending the 2015 Game Awards) has meant the writing has pretty much been on the wall since this fateful tweet, in May of this year:
Farewell sausage. pic.twitter.com/UbrjrCrU
— HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) May 9, 2012
It’s with no small sense of inevitability then, that – following what can only be assumed as a massive stint of gardening leave – Hideo Kojima yesterday announced his own independent studio… and he’s only gone and called it Kojima Productions. Again. Anyone would think he’s deliberately trying to stick in Konami’s craw.
Kojima Productions are dead – long live Kojima Productions!
We didn’t run this story yesterday when it broke, as did some other outlets, because we wanted an opportunity to fact check and let the dust settle. In turn there have been quite a few false starts and poor translations in the past 16 hours, so with the benefit of patience, here’s what we know so far about (the new) Kojima Productions:
- The news was announced by Nikkei in Japan (it’s behind a pay-wall, sorry).
- Hideo Kojima officially left the employ of Konami on December 15, 2015.
- His new studio is, funnily enough, called Kojima Productions.
- Kojima Productions has a website, if you’re interested.
- They’re also hiring. A lot.
- Kojima has stated his new studio will work closely with Sony.
- It looks like Kojima’s first independent release will be a PS4 exclusive.
- Sony have backed this up in an announcement video.
- IGN will be releasing an interview with Kojima, about his new studio and upcoming game, at 3pm PT / 11pm GMT.
- Speculation that Kojima was liberated from Konami HQ via the Fulton Recovery System are sadly unfounded.
And that’s it. That’s what we know folks. Stay tuned for more information.
With the departure of Hideo Kojima, it looks like Metal Gear Solid V will be the last in the series. It’s also arguably Kojima Productions’ finest work – pick it up from Amazon now.
