God loves Hideo Kojima because a man is never boring. Following the announcement of Death Stranding 2 (opens in new tab) At the end of last year, Japanese creators Celebration interview with IGN Japan (opens in new tab)during which he explored the founding of Kojima Productions, his time at Konami, and yes: his future as an AI.
Of course, this is said a bit jokingly, but it’s an answer to questions about Kojima Productions’ philosophy and what the creators want to leave behind in that institutional sense.
“I never thought of that,” said Kojima. “As long as I am, I will continue to lead. All that matters to me is that our roots in creation remain intact. But you know, I will probably become AI and stay there. I need you. If you want to keep creating new things, you will be inspired by various things, so even if it is AI, I will cooperate with people and incorporate new things.”
I wonder if they say “Hideo Kojima AI game” before each chapter. Aside from the hilarious idea of surviving death as an algorithm, here’s something Kojima fans will be more excited about. We are talking very warmly. Since the split, there has been an icy atmosphere between the creators and the company, which is very disappointing, but this suggests that the relationship is thawing.
“I learned a lot at Konami,” said Kojima. “It was rare for a creator to concurrently serve as both a developer and a business, but I was also given the opportunity to serve as an executive there, and he kindly taught me how to run a business.” […] It was a company that left everything to people who acted responsibly.”
I have a special affection for Kagemasa Kozuki, the 82-year-old founder and current chairman of Konami. It’s obvious, the degree of freedom in game production,” says Kojima. More importantly, when events beyond anyone’s control threatened Kojima’s work, Kozuki gave the director his full support.
“9/11 happened in 2001, right before Metal Gear Solid 2 was released,” Kojima said. “We had just sent out the masters, and the game included both the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. It seemed impossible to release the game. No one told me what to do except Mr. Kozuki who worked on the problem.
“When I was wondering what to do, I consulted Mr. Kozuki about the possibility of leaving the company, and he said, ‘When this game comes out and society speaks out about it, they will be talking about you.’ , its creator, and me, the person who sold it.I doubt they would say anything about anyone else.What would you do? is made.
“When we heard how far he was going, we made a firm decision to release it together. The rest is history.”
It’s great to hear Mr. Kojima talk about the good things about his time at Konami.He’ll never go back, but it’s very sad that such a great joint legacy is half-devolved to history. I’d love to at least see Mr. Kojima talking about old games, and it would be great if Konami could pull a finger out to ensure that Metal Gear has a future too.
The signs are positive here at least. At the end of her memoir of MGS2, Kojima talked about how bad her condition was after the game ended, saying, “I was moved from hospital to hospital. At the time, Kozuki-san was the only one who cared. When I looked at her, I felt that she cared for me more than anyone else when I was in trouble.”
