Hideo Kojima - the famed video game director behind Metal Gear Solid and Death Stranding - has reflected on his own studio’s eighth birthday with some sage advice from Guillermo Del Toro.
Kojima was once a creative force at publisher Konami, having fathered and fostered the MGS series for years before working on the much-anticipated Silent Hills in collaboration with Del Toro, the film director behind too many classics to list. Internal tension led to Konami canceling the ambitious horror game, sadly, though it did also lead to Kojima opening his own independent studio.
“8 years have passed since we started Kojima Productions,” the director reminisces in a social media post. “Back then, we had no development tools, no game engine, no office, and all we had was a notepad with a draft project and the LUDENS logo” - which you might recognize as the undead space knight.
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Kojima continues to share some advice imparted by his once-upon-a-time collaborator. Del Toro supposedly told him to “create an innovative and unique AAA game that fans are looking forward to as soon as possible!” That’s exactly what the team achieved with Death Stranding, the epic and sometimes divisive hiking simulator that was developed in a relatively moderate timeframe: three years.
According to the director, Kojima Productions has now entered its second phase which means the team is focused on expanding Death Stranding into a “franchise” through the sequel and the newly revealed A24 film adaptation. OD - the nebulous horror game in collaboration with Xbox and Jordan Peele - is also part of the studio’s second-phase plans.
“Although the COVID disaster delayed our plans, we have already launched our second booster rocket, completed separation, and are continuing our flight into uncharted territory while adjusting our trajectory toward new destinations,” the note concludes.
