Hideo Kojima has been through a lot lately. So much, that we aren’t even entirely sure what’s going on. It’s all shadows, rumors, and hypotheticals. What we do know is this. Kojima made many great games for Konami. He was working on two more, Silent Hills and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain . Silent Hills was cancelled, and Konami’s relationships with Guillermo Del Toro and Norman Reedus were allowed to lapse. Kojima and his team were suddenly less active with Metal Gear Solid V .
Now, in 2016, Hideo Kojima is free. Konami is no longer holding him back. Kojima Productions is independent. He’s going to GDC. And, by the looks of things, he’s dedicating this next phase of his life to doing what he wants, unhampered by his past.
The GDC leadup is especially important here. As I mentioned earlier, the biggest part of this tragedy was Kojima not getting to work on Silent Hills . We received an amazing trailer called P.T. , which served as a hint of things to come, then it was gone. Now, Kojima’s going out of his way to be associated with the people who were also on that project.
Look at the evidence. There was a picture with Reedus on Twitter and Reedus posted the Kojima Productions logo on Instagram . He and Del Toro talked last week at the D.I.C.E. summit, with Del Toro saying he wanted to work with Kojima. Kojima’s doing well, reuniting with previous collaborators, and he wants to show that off.
Kojima keeps going on about his next project as well. He says he wants Kojima Productions to do a huge series. It would be one that would expand into other forms of media, like manga and anime, and would inspire toys. It’s the positive outlook of a man who sounds like he knows exactly what he wants and has the freedom to do it.
Meanwhile, Konami is, well, being Konami. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain flourished, but nothing’s taken hold since. Kojima has won the breakup and, even without disclosing or providing all those nitty gritty details that would expose Konami’s behavior, has come away looking like a hero. Kojima’s soaring, and we can only hope that he’ll continue to do well when his next project is revealed.