Kojima’s contributions to the gaming world are an inevitable fact, as he is the creator of the productions that made a big impact in the gaming world such as the Metal Gear Solid series, Silent Hill PT and Death Stranding. He made his games almost like a movie and today he has become a legendary name in the gaming world.
Kojima, who sometimes experiences sensational events and is the subject of attention with his mysterious tweets, has a life story that many people do not know.
It wouldn’t be a lie to say that Kojima’s passion for cinema goes back a long way.
Born in Tokyo in 1963, Kojima grew up watching classic films since his childhood. The movie nights he had with his family were one of the things that expanded Kojima’s imagination. When he turned 10, something that could be called a turning point in his life happened.
His family required Kojima to write a “movie report” so he could go to the movies alone. This experience triggered his desire to tell his own stories and sparked his goal of becoming a film director.
Unfortunately, he lost his father at a very young age and life left him with a deep sense of loneliness. He became so lonely that he said that in his childhood years, he always turned on the television to cope with this situation.
Bonus information: He says that even at his age, he turns on the television to avoid being alone.
After his father’s death, his mother had to work and she became even more lonely.
During this period, cinema became his greatest friend. Even though his life was full of difficulties, the creative fire within him never went out; On the contrary, he held on to this dream even more. He and his friends tried to shoot zombie movies with an 8mm camera he found. However, a career in cinema was almost impossible in Japan at that time.
Due to these impossibilities, he had to study in a field that he had no interest in. Although he studied economics at university, he never stopped writing stories in his spare time. He sent the stories he wrote to magazines, but none of them were published.
Kojima, who said that if he could not enter the cinema industry, then he would create stories in the gaming industry, even entered the gaming industry because of movies.
Kojima, who was introduced to Famicom when he was in the 4th year of university, was so impressed by a game he played that he decided to become a game designer. The game he played was Super Mario Bros. created by Shigeru Miyamoto. He still refers to Super Mario Bros. as the Big Bang of gaming.
In fact, this sector was not far from what Kojima wanted. Because after all, he would be able to design a universe and execute his dream job in a different medium. His mother never gave up on Kojima’s support for this decision.
He applied for a job at Konami, took part in the MSX team, and had his first experience with the game Penguin Adventure.
He applied to Konami, the only game company that had made a name for itself, at a time when gaming professional terms were not even established or even existed. Kojima, who actually wanted to develop the Famicom and make arcade games, was appointed by Konami as a designer and planning manager for the MSX unit.
Although he has almost no technical knowledge; His determination, stability and hardworking nature attracted the attention of Konami officials, and this stability led to his appointment as assistant director of the game “Penguin Adventure”. This game he was involved in did not make much noise, but the game had innovative features such as role-playing and alternative endings.
Kojima, who attracted Konami’s attention after the features he added to his game, had the opportunity to make his own game, but this project was rejected by Konami.
According to what is known, this action-oriented game had a story told through the eyes of a female character called “Masked Warrior” on the Titanic ship. This project, called “Lost Warld”, could not be realized because it was too complex for MSX.
After this incident, Kojima was even made fun of by his colleagues and he was truly disappointed. This unfinished legend still lives on as a dream echoing in the hearts of many players.
The last chance Konami gave Kojima with a difficult decision led to the creation of the Metal Gear series.
At a time when action games were popular, Konami was also working on a military-themed action game project, but the project had technical difficulties. The action-oriented structure of the game was inadequate against the technology of that period. Kojima’s taking over a project that initially seemed challenging was the turning point in his gaming adventure.
He created Metal Gear, inspired by the scene in the movie The Great Escape where Steve McQueen tries to escape by hiding from the Nazis. This game not only fascinated players with action but also became the pioneer of stealth games by offering a different experience.
It’s time for Metal Gear to slowly rise in the gaming world. In fact, we can say that the name was changed during this period.
Kojima, who was normally unaware that this series would be continued, learned from his colleague during the train journey that the game was under construction. Isn’t that funny? You start a game and they do business secretly from you, so to speak.
Kojima, who we think was very ambitious during the train journey, drafted the game on the train and the first thing he did after the journey was to go to Konami. This is how he started making Solid Snake, the second series of Metal Gear, after receiving approval from Konami.
Kojima, who achieved great success after Metal Gear 2, planned to make a 3rd sequel and name the series directly as Metal Gear Solid. The reason for this is quite logical in our opinion; Kojima, acting with the thought of why people would choose to play the 3rd game without playing the first 2 games, made such a radical decision.
Metal Gear Solid, released for PlayStation 1, revolutionized the gaming world. “How?” We hear you say, there are many reasons for this:
It has become one of the most successful productions in the gaming world, with its storytelling that is as good as the movies, the introduction of 3D gaming for the first time, the use of voice actors and prominent stealth elements. So, if you ask any actor about Hideo Kojima, there is a high probability that you will get the answer: “He is a legend.”
After such a successful production, other game companies, which were greatly influenced by Kojima, caused the market to boom by releasing such games. After that, the sequels of the series never slowed down in terms of success and continued to make a splash in the industry every year.
After all these successful games, unfortunately his relationship with Konami did not go well.
Kojima made efforts to bring new games to the Metal Gear Solid series and rose to the top of the company. However, its relationship with Konami became even more strained with the increase in costs of development tools and projects. His collaboration with Del Toro began towards creating Silent Hill PT, and Kojima showed interest in the film industry as well as his games.
At a time when Konami was turning to mobile games, he came to the point of separation, realizing that his artistic work could not be the focus of the company. This tension ended with Kojima’s cancellation of the Silent Hill project and his firing from the company after the completion of Metal Gear Solid V.
After leaving Konami, Kojima founded his own studio, Kojima Productions.
Under this studio he created Death Stranding. The game had a structure that encouraged players to help each other rather than compete. Hollywood stars; It attracted great attention with the participation of names such as Norman Reedus, Mads Mikkelsen and Lea Seydoux and its mysterious structure.
However, the game’s release caused mixed reviews. While some appreciated the game’s unique mechanics and fine details, others had difficulty understanding the game’s basic structure and story. Despite this, an enhanced Director’s Cut version was released for PlayStation 5 following its port to PC in 2020.
It is unknown when he will release Death Stranding 2, but the future of the movie of the series was announced by Kojima. Even though he is in his 60s, it is a great blessing for the player base that he still devotes himself to this industry and can contribute. We hope that he will direct the Death Stranding movie.
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