With Death Stranding receiving polarizing reviews, many gamers have asked the question, “Is Hideo Kojima one of the greatest game developers or is he just an overrated weirdo?”
Hideo Kojima, The Video Game Director
With his passion for classic movies in everything he does, Hideo Kojima has created a personal brand that is—for all intents and purposes—the video game equivalent of Quentin Tarantino. The “Kojima Productions” logo used to mean that the game you were about to play was undisputably a masterpiece. From the first Metal Gear Solid to Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Kojima’s magic touch appeared undefeatable.
That is until The Phantom Pain came around. While not a bad game by any extent of the imagination, it was Kojima’s flawed swan song. With his high-profile divorce from Konami and the fabled “Chapter 3”, we never turned Phantom Pain into a shadow of what could’ve been instead of the shocking final chapter in Big Boss’s epic saga.
Then, Death Stranding made things even murkier for Kojima’s legacy. While some long-time fans swear by Kojima’s quirkiness, which permeates every aspect of Death Stranding, others feel the game only proves that Kojima is only great when he has someone there to reel him back a bit (and that would be Konami).
Of course, no auteur worth their salt has ever been uncontroversial.
Metal Gear Solid Games
It’s no secret that Kojima revolutionized gaming in the PS1 era. Metal Gear Solid might be one of the most influential action titles ever released – and it might have been a stroke of luck more than genius that did it.
For starters, Metal Gear Solid‘s core concept—its highly cinematic stealth gameplay—came about as a necessity. Console limitations made the combat feel clunky, prompting Kojima to create a game that rewarded players who avoided open combat situations.
The success of Metal Gear Solid turned Kojima into one of the most revered creators in the video game industry. Every successive Metal Gear game proved two things: Kojima had near complete creative control over the franchise, and there was no such thing as a “bad” Hideo Kojima game.
The Kojima name became synonymous with action games. Metal Gear as a brand was also a gaming institution, with Snake becoming easily one of the most recognizable gaming characters ever created.
Smashing Expectations
If there’s one thing Hideo Kojima loves more than inserting random movie references in his games, it’s trolling gamers. From metanarrative devices that subvert everyone’s expectations to creating some of the most imaginative video game marketing campaigns, Kojima loves the unexpected.
Remember when The Phantom Pain wasn’t even a Metal Gear game? The whole “Moby Dick Studio” marketing ploy tried to convince gamers that Phantom Pain wasn’t related to either Kojima or the MGS series. However, gamers easily connected the dots at that time.
More difficult to crack were the many puzzles hidden in P.T. The demo for the cancelled Silent Hills was nothing short of genius – if, maybe, a bit too cerebral for its own good. At this point, gamers were getting a bit tired of Kojima’s continuous puzzles. With his fascination with plot twists and subverting expectations, Kojima was getting less and less Tarantino and slowly morphing into M. Night Shyamalan.
Did Konami Fire Kojima?
In 2015, Konami announced they’d be parting ways with Hideo Kojima. The news came as a shock to gamers, as the developer was in the middle of the Phantom Pain development, and Silent Hills was just around the corner. However, not even a developer like Kojima was completely safe, as his name was erased from the Phantom Pain cover and future re-releases of the Metal Gear saga. For Konami, it was essentially as if Kojima never existed.
After he was released from Konami, rumours emerged regarding some serious mismanagement at Kojima Productions. Apparently, The Phantom Pain went way over its budget. Add to that the entire development of the Fox Engine, and what you get is a budget that not even someone like Kojima could afford.
To make matters worse, Metal Gear composer Rika Muranaka later commented on Kojima’s working practices. The MGS director commissioned thirty songs that were never used in the completed game. According to Muranaka, Kojima “Had a lack of business sense“, which contributed to his departure from the company that saw him grow into the international superstar developer he now was.
Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding
Konami recently announced they plan to release Metal Gear Solid Δ: Snake Eater – a remake of the classic MGS3. Something that immediately jumps to view in every piece of promo material related to Delta is that Kojima’s name has been, once again, completely removed from the Metal Gear lore.
While he might not have anything to do with Metal Gear anymore, the developer has enjoyed some success with Death Stranding, his latest original IP. With a sequel underway, Death Stranding – starring The Walking Dead‘s Norman Reedus – has proved divisive for fans of Kojima.
On the one hand, the game is beautiful. The story—whenever it makes sense—features that same cinematic flair we’re used to from Kojima. Unfortunately, Hideo Kojima himself might be the reason why the game has split his fanbase into two. Simply put, Death Stranding is Kojima at his most unhinged yet.
With a plot that spends more time spewing random philosophical concepts than telling a story, Death Stranding has lost some of the classic Kojima sparkle of the MGS era. Add to that the utterly bizarre trailer for OD, and maybe Kojima might be heading towards the same lot as David Cage or Peter Molyneux.
If there’s one undisputable fact about Kojima, it’s that the man is a creative genius. Sure, some, if not most, of his games are weird and downright nonsensical. But if filmmakers like David Lynch and writers like Junji Ito have taught us anything, it’s that there’s a definite place for “weirdos” in the entertainment industry.
In that sense, yes, maybe Hideo Kojima might be one of the greatest weirdos in the video game industry – and that’s why we love him.
