Hideo Kojima is one of the most respected figures in the gaming industry, and is the mastermind behind some of our favorite franchises like Metal Gear Solid. But not all of our praise for him is because of the games he has made, it’s because of his beliefs and visions for Kojima Productions, the studio he founded in 2015 after separating from Konami.
The new studio went on to find huge success and Kojima has even admitted over the years that he receives “ridiculously high” buyout offers from companies all over the world. But you know what his response to that has been? No. If you’re wondering why, it’s for creative freedom. He has made it clear that as long as he is alive, Kojima Productions will never be sold.
Hideo Kojima will always prioritize creative freedom over profit
Kojima Productions was established in 2015 after Kojima’s highly publicized split from Konami. This also meant that we’d have to see the cancellation of a Silent Hill game and Metal Gear Solid 5, games which he was working on. The experience is what made Kojima determined never to work under restrictive corporate conditions again. And thus, our goat made his own studio.
The first time we heard Kojima talk about the constant buyout rumors for his studio was during his Brain Structure podcast in 2022. During the episode, he said that he receives offers from companies worldwide every day. While some of these offers are astronomically high, Kojima insists that his studio was founded on the principle of independence.
Every day I am approached by offers all over the world to buy our studio. Some of those offers are ridiculously high prices but it’s not that I want money. I want to make what I want to make. That’s why I created this studio. So as long as I’m alive, I don’t think I will ever accept those offers.
It’s not hard for us to guess exactly what he talked about. The pressure for studio acquisitions in the gaming industry has only intensified in recent years. Microsoft’s $68.7 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard and Sony’s $3.6 billion acquisition of Bungie have been some of the biggest deals we’ve seen in the gaming industry.
That doesn’t mean he won’t work with Sony or Microsoft
Despite his refusal to sell Kojima Productions, we’re still seeing the studio partner with major companies like PlayStation and Xbox. Death Stranding, his first game after leaving Konami, was published by Sony and became a major success. More recently, he has teamed up with Microsoft to develop a cloud-based horror game called Overdose.
Kojima Productions is currently working with Sony again on Death Stranding 2: On the Beach and the game is set to be one of the biggest game launches of 2025. If you want more news on this upcoming title, Kojima will be hosting a panel at SXSW 2025 to reveal new details about the game. From everything we’ve seen so far, it seems like the studio is even more ambitious than before.
The gaming industry is in a phase where many developers are being forced to compromise their creative visions due to corporate pressure. And that’s what makes people like Kojima so great. Studio heads like him, Swen Vincke of Larian Studios, and Hidetaka Miyazaki of FromSoftware are some of the devs who make games to be unique and meaningful, not for profits.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
