Hideo Kojima

Hideo Kojima (小島 秀夫, Kojima Hideo; born August 24, 1963) is a Japanese video game designer, writer, director, and producer. He is best known for the Metal Gear franchise, which remains his most famous and acclaimed work. His games are noted for being highly cinematic, the result of a passion for film and literature which began during his childhood, and he is regarded as a pioneering auteur of video games.

Upon joining Konami in 1986, Kojima directed, designed, and wrote Metal Gear (1987) for the MSX2. The game laid the foundation for the stealth game genre and the renowned Metal Gear franchise, which he continued to direct for 28 years up to Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (2015). During his time at Konami, he created Boktai and produced Zone of the Enders and Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, as well as directing Snatcher (1988) and Policenauts (1994), which were graphic adventure games that came to be regarded for their cinematic presentation.

Kojima founded Kojima Productions within Konami in 2005, and in 2011 he was appointed vice president of Konami Digital Entertainment. In 2014, Kojima was revealed as the director for Silent Hills, the next installment in the Silent Hill franchise, via the playable teaser P.T. which has been cited as one of the greatest horror games of all time. However, the game was cancelled by Konami in 2015, shortly before Kojima's departure from the company.

He then re-established Kojima Productions as an independent studio in December 2015, and, in partnership with Sony, released his first games outside Konami with Death Stranding (2019) and Death Stranding 2: On the Beach (2025). Following the end of his studio's collaboration with Sony, Kojima is directing the upcoming games OD and Physint in association with Xbox. A longtime film enthusiast, he announced in 2019 that his studio would expand into film production, and is currently serving as producer for three Death Stranding adaptations.