Hideo Kojima, the famed director behind the Metal Gear series and Death Stranding, has an obvious passion for TV and film. His games focus heavily on lengthy cinematics and dialogue, and he recently gained a strong penchant for hiring celebrity actors for his leading roles. With this in mind, it’s no surprise that before he entered game development, Kojima wanted to make films. That dream eluded him for a while, but now it looks like it will finally become a reality. His studio Kojima Productions has just created a new division focused on TV, film, and music.
This division of Kojima Productions is located in Los Angeles, California, and the developer will use it “to take [its] games to other pop culture areas.” Riley Russell, an industry veteran who spent almost 28 years working at PlayStation, will lead the division. According to Russell, the division will work “with creative and talented professionals in television, music and film, as well as the more familiar games industry.”
New opportunities for storytelling
Yoshiko Fukuda, Business Development Manager at Kojima Productions, portrayed this new division as something of a necessary step toward expanding the studio’s wheelhouse. He stated that to keep up with “a fast-moving, ever changing storytelling world,” Kojima Productions has to discover “new ways to entertain, engage and offer value to our fans.” He went on to say that the “division will take the studio into even more areas that present our creative narratives beyond videogames and to open up ways for our fans to communicate and immerse themselves in these spaces.”
To dedicated fans of Hideo Kojima and his work, his studio’s expansion into the worlds of TV and film is both exciting and long-overdue. Kojima has received plenty of criticisms over the years for how overwrought his dialogue can be, especially when he is given more creative control, so some may worry that his style won’t translate to TV and film. Ultimately, it will be interesting to see how this esteemed director will approach his new dream job.
