Acclaimed Metal Gear Creator Won’t Let Death Stop Him

If you’re a die-hard fan of Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima, you might still be able to enjoy ideas from the acclaimed game developer for decades to come.

Kojima, now 60, built up his reputation by writing, directing, and producing seminal titles like the stealth shooter Metal Gear series, as well as more recent AAA titles like 2019’s Death Stranding.

Kojima told the game magazine Edge earlier this week that he gave his personal assistant “a USB stick with all my ideas on it,” calling it “kind of like a will.” He added, “Perhaps they could continue to make things after I’m gone at Kojima Productions,” so the company doesn’t simply “manage our existing IP” after his death.

The game industry elder statesman is still coming up with left-field ideas to this day. In a Japanese radio interview last week (translated by IGN), Kojima floated the idea of a new video game where the player character “forgets” his skills and abilities if the real-life player steps away from his controller for too long.

Kojima tells Edge that he’s thinking more about mortality and his legacy after contracting a serious illness during the pandemic, and having to undergo eye surgery. “Wait, how many years do I have left to make a game or a film?” he asked. “Perhaps I have 10 years?”

Kojima said he had even considered a late-career transition to making films, an early childhood dream of his, but said he was talked out of it by Pan’s Labyrinth director Guillermo del Toro and Drive director Nicolas Winding Refn, who advised him to “stick to video games.”

But despite all the talk of death, the director still has plenty of irons in the fire. He’s currently pegged to write, produce, and direct OD, an upcoming Xbox exclusive themed on fear, which he told The Verge in 2023 would be “a totally new style of game.” His studio is also thought to be developing a new stealth action game known as Physint. Neither has a firm release date.

His latest game, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, is planned for release on June 24.

About Will McCurdy

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I’m a reporter covering weekend news. Before joining PCMag in 2024, I picked up bylines in BBC News, The Guardian, The Times of London, The Daily Beast, Vice, Slate, Fast Company, The Evening Standard, The i, TechRadar, and Decrypt Media.

I’ve been a PC gamer since you had to install games from multiple CD-ROMs by hand. As a reporter, I’m passionate about the intersection of tech and human lives. I’ve covered everything from crypto scandals to the art world, as well as conspiracy theories, UK politics, and Russia and foreign affairs.

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