Game Designer Hideo Kojima is to form a new studio Kojima Productions after the much talked about on and off spat with his old employer Konami. The first game from the studio will be an exclusive one for Sony’s PlayStation 4.
Kojima and Konami’s relationship seem to have soured during the making of the now successful game Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Following this, the creator was removed from Konami’s website and all the collaterals of the game in March. Also, one of the most awaited games to have been in development Silent Hills that Kojima was working on with director Guillermo del Torro and The Walking Dead actor Norman Reedus got cancelled and its playable demo P.T. was removed from PlayStation.
Later, Kojima was kept away from public eye and Konami kept maintaining the stand that Kojima was still a part of the company and was on a break for an indefinite period. After the release of Metal Gear Solid, Konami shut shop off its Los Angeles based studio which was formerly known as Kojima Productions Los Angeles.
Later to add insult to injury, Konami did not allow Kojima to attend The Video Game Awards where Metal Gear Solid was nominated for five awards and won two where Kiefer Sutherland, who voices Big Boss in the game, accepted the award on behalf of Kojima and the development team and hinted about company preventing Kojima from attending awards.
Nikkei, the Japanese publication, yesterday revealed about Kojima’s departure from the company and later the designer took to Twitter to confirm the news- “Today marks a new start for me. I’m committed to be involved in creative activities for as long as I live. Look forward to what’s coming.”
Kojima Productions also launched its official website, and a message from Kojima addressing the gaming community. Read it in full below.
We are Homo Ludens (Those who play).
From the moment we enter this world, we instinctively invent ways to have “fun,” and share our inventions with those around us. We are not asked to do this, nor do we need reasons to create. It is simply who we are.
We find one another and compete with one another. We laugh together and cry together; all while playing together. Our experiences bind us and liberate us. To share our most valuable experiences, we create stories, invent tools, and evolve the art of play. Play has been our ally since the dawn of civilisation.
“Playing” is not simply a pastime, it is the primordial basis of imagination and creation. Truth be told, Homo Ludens (Those who Play) are simultaneously Homo Faber (Those who Create).
Even if the earth were stripped of life and reduced to a barren wasteland, our imagination and desire to create would survive–beyond survival, it would provide hope that flowers may one day bloom again. Through the invention of play, our new evolution awaits.
Kojima Productions — We are Homo Ludens. We are those who play.
Hideo Kojima
PlayStation too issued a statement about the new partnership between Kojima and the company, “PlayStation’s history is one of game innovation and great new franchises. Hideo Kojima has been a huge part of that history, and we are therefore delighted that he has chosen to bring his brand new project to life in partnership with PlayStation. We look forward to working with him on an exciting new game and warmly welcome him to the PlayStation family,” said Sony Computer Entertainment, President and Global CEO, Andrew House.