Kojima Says Death Stranding and Studio are New Challege
By Fergus O'Sullivan 28 January 2017
In an interview, video-game legend Hideo Kojima says that his past experiences have made him ready to take on the ‘new challenge’ of making Death Stranding.
During an interview about his newly founded studio Kojima Productions, Hideo Kojima said that having his own company as well as producing the game Death Stranding independently are a “new challenge” that he is equipped to face thanks to his 30 years of video game-making experience.
Kojima’s comments were made while talking with IGN about the new company and the progress of the Death Stranding project, his new game starring Hollywood luminaries like Mads Mikkelsen as well as award-winning director Guillermo del Toro. Kojima gave away little about Death Stranding, preferring to focus on talking about his ideas behind founding Kojima Productions and how he sees the road he has traveled.
Regarding the past, Kojima said that the he has been formed by the many experiences he’s had over the 53 years of his life. From books read to movies watched, “not one of these things has been without purpose, including my experience creating games at Konami. I’m embarking on a new challenge with a fresh slate, but I intend to keep pushing the creative envelope until the day I die. I believe my experiences over the past 53 years won’t lead me astray.” Words to live by, and likely to raise fans’ hopes regarding Death Stranding.
Besides the interview, the IGN team also was able to take a look around the offices and speak to the team that has formed around Kojima. Founded over one year ago, Kojima Productions has attracted talents from around the globe and from many different industries, each one of whom is very enthusiastic about working with the legendary director of games like Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain. Some of the new talents are old friends of Kojima’s, while others are completely new to game development.
Watching the video, the energy at Kojima Productions calls to mind similar start-ups: very enthusiastic with a very “the sky is the limit” attitude which bodes well for Death Stranding. The new company’s motto, “from sapiens to ludens,” is both playful and serious, showing that Kojima and his team know that playing gamesis entertainment, but making them is serious business. Right now the company has just finished setting up and, in Kojima’s words, “in our first year we built the spaceship, in the second it can take off.”
Whether Death Stranding will be as good as expected no one can know at such an early stage of development, but the energy and talent concentrated at Kojima Productions promise a very good result. In the unlikely event that the game fails, it won’t be due to the people at this very promising new company.
Death Stranding has no set release date as of January 2017, but is anticipated to hit shelves before 2019. It is currently in production for PlayStation 4.
