Hideo Kojima

Hideo Kojima is a Japanese video game designer originally employed at Konami. Formerly the vice president of Konami Computer Entertainment Japan he is currently the head of Kojima Productions. He is the creator and director of a number of successful games including the Metal Gear series Snatcher and Policenauts with Death Stranding being his latest work. He has also produced both the Zone of the Enders and Boktai series. Kojima is consistently named by fans and industry experts alike as being one of the most influential and innovative video game directors and writers of all time as well as being on many all time director top ten lists. Newsweek named Hideo Kojima as one of the top ten people of 2002. In 2008 NextGen placed him 7 in their list of Hot 100 Developer 2008. He was awarded the first ever Lifetime Achievement Award handed to a game designer at the 2008 MTV Game Awards. He is most well known for his involvement with the Metal Gear series. The series is credited for pioneering and popularizing stealth video games and cinematic video games. Notable traits of the series include cinematic cutscenes intricate storylines offbeat and fourthwall humor and exploration of cyberpunk dystopian political and philosophical themes as well as references to Hollywood films. He carried forward his signature style of cinematic storytelling well into his latest works. After his split from Konami he announced the founding of his own independent studio on December 16 2015. It was named Kojima Productions and they started work on an independent game titled Death Stranding which was Written Directed and Produced by Hideo himself. Death Stranding was released on November 8 2019 and received generally positive reviews while being a commercial success. It also won a number of awards including Best Game Direction and Best Score/Music at The Game Awards 2019 and Outstanding Achievement in Audio Design and Outstanding Technical Achievement at the 23rd Annual D.I.C.E. Awards. His upcoming works include Death Stranding 2: On The Beach and OD. There is also a liveaction feature film adaptation of Death Stranding currently being produced by Kojima and the film studio A24.