Hideo Kojima

Hideo Kojima is a Japanese game designer best known for the Metal Gear Solid series of games.

Kojima is undoubtedly one of Japan’s most prolific and respected video games designers.

The game designer started his career in 1986 at Konami, where he designed Metal Gear (1987) for the MSX2, laying the foundation for the stealth genre of video games.

Kojima went on to spend more than 30 years at Konami, producing several acclaimed Metal Gear Solid games, as well as mech title Zone of the Enders, plus adventure games Snatcher (1988) and Policenauts (1994).

Kojima founded Kojima Productions in 2005, under the control of Konami.

Konami Split

In 2015 Kojima left Konami amid much speculation. His former employer stated that it was hiring new staff for the Metal Gear series, claiming that Kojima was taking time off from game development.

At the 2015 Game Awards, Kojima did not appear to accept Metal Gear Solid V’s Best Action Game award. It was claimed Konami had blocked the designer from attending the event.

Later the same month, Kojima announced he was reforming Kojima Productions with new staff, backed by Sony Computer Entertainment. The reformed company’s first game would be Death Stranding for PlayStation 4.