Gaming legend Hideo Kojima, creator of Metal Gear, Death Stranding, and more, has delved into his next moves and what fans can expect in the future from his production house.
Hideo Kojima Sign with Renowned Hollywood Talent Agency WME
Kojima Wants to Build a 'Digital Entertainment' Empire
Metal Gear and Death Stranding mastermind Hideo Kojima has signed with talent agency WME as he charts his course in Hollywood. Over the recent years, Kojima has expanded his reach beyond the sphere of gaming and into Hollywood, more recently announcing his partnership with filmmaker and actor Jordan Peele on the project "OD."
Ahead of his appearance at the recently held Tokyo Game Show 2024 over the weekend, the Metal Gear creator spoke with Hollywood outlet Variety about plans for his studio's upcoming games such as Death Stranding 2, Physint, and OD, as well as what he has in store for fans keeping a close eye on him and the studio. Kojima also shared how his departure from Konami has enabled him to make his creative endeavors a reality.
"Though I was offered a lot of work outside of the company to film commercials or films or write scripts, I couldn’t do any of them because I was employed at Konami," he said, "and I was a board member as well. Also, the games that I made were not my IP; they belonged to the company."
"Because I love movies, I could have gone on to shoot movies or commercials. But for the first phase, I thought about the video game fans all across the world who were waiting for my next new game, so I decided to create a video game first," Kojima further detailed how he's planned his moves with KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS, additionally breaking down the "phases" of his plans.
"Death Stranding as a standalone title is not enough to spread and establish the IP, so we are currently making a sequel." He further shared: "So, this is the first phase: to establish 'Death Stranding' within the games category and expand on global platforms, like Apple and PC and Sony. And from there, we are making a sequel."
Wanting to also create something entirely new and different from Stranding, Kojima decided to team up with Microsoft and Jordan Peele to create OD, a game project that will be "completely immersive and utterly terrifying," as Peele had put it. "I can’t go into too much detail, and it’s also hard to explain, but it’s a bit risky and a new challenge for me within the realm of games," Kojima remarked.
Kojima's "second phase" would be expanding his game IPs to other media, such as with the Death Stranding movie adaptation. "That’s what we’re aiming for next. I created Kojima Productions under the scope of 'digital entertainment,' but I don’t think it necessarily has to be a video game," he additionally commented. "We could create a new IP from a game, or an anime, or a film, or something totally different. Anything is possible, and that’s the third phase."
For Kojima's third phase, he shared that he would like to "work with talented people from around the world and create something new, with 'digital' being the keyword." Though not going into finer details, Kojima said that the endeavor "could be a movie, a game, or something else entirely. I can’t die until then! I don’t think I’m trying to do anything too out of the ordinary!" Kojima excitedly added and teased what the future could show Kojima fans: "Maybe once I’m in the third phase after 'Physint,' I might be directing a movie, or Kojima Productions maybe making a movie. Who knows!"
