Hideo Kojima
Game developer
Class of 2016 Inductee
Regarded as one of the pioneering auteurs of video games, he developed a strong passion for film and literature during his childhood and adolescence, which in turn has had a significant influence on his games.
In 1986, Kojima joined Konami, for which he directed, designed, and wrote Metal Gear (1987) for the MSX2, the game that laid the foundations for the stealth genre and the Metal Gear franchise, his best known and most acclaimed work.
At Konami, he also produced the Zone of the Enders series, as well as designing and writing Snatcher (1988) and Policenauts (1994), graphic adventure games regarded for their cinematic presentation.
Kojima founded Kojima Productions within Konami in 2005, and was appointed vice president of Konami Digital Entertainment in 2011.
Following his departure from Konami in 2015, he refounded Kojima Productions as an independent studio; his first game outside Konami, Death Stranding, was released in 2019, and was followed by a sequel, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, in 2025.
Kojima’s work has been cited as an influence by numerous game developers, including Splinter Cell and Far Cry 2 designer Clint Hocking, Splinter Cell producer Mathieu Ferland, Silicon Knights founder Denis Dyack, Unreal and Gears of War creator Cliff Bleszinski,Tenchu creator Takuma Endo, Thief creator Tom Leonard, Sumo Digital designer Emily Knox, Crysis 2 animator Luke Kelly, Uncharted writer and The Last of Us creator Neil Druckmann,and 2064: Read Only Memories developer MidBoss.
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Accolades and Awards:
Newsweek named Kojima as one of the top ten people of 2002.
In 2008, Next-Gen placed him seventh in their list of “Hot 100 Developers 2008”.
In 2009, IGN placed him sixth in their list of top game creators of all time.
At the 2008 MTV Game Awards, Kojima was given the award show’s first Lifetime Achievement Award for a game designer and was also honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2009 Game Developers Conference.
In 2014, UNESCO’s Bradford City of Film gave Kojima the inaugural award for Cinematography in Video Games, “for his astounding directing, storytelling, and cinematography” in video games.
At the 2014 National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers (NAVGTR) awards, Kojima was credited for Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes’ nomination for the category Game, Franchise Adventure.
In December 2015, Kojima was invited to accept an award from The Game Awards 2015 for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, but was prevented from attending by Konami.
In February 2016, Kojima received the AIAS Hall of Fame Award at the 19th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards.[200] In December 2016, Kojima was able to attend The Game Awards 2016 and accepted the Industry Icon Award.[201]
On October 12, 2017, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Brasil Game Show.
Kojima was named a BAFTA Fellowship at the 2020 British Academy Games Awards, making him the second Japanese person to receive the award for work on video games after Shigeru Miyamoto.
Kojima holds the distinction of having directed four games (Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain and Death Stranding) out of the 30 total to have achieved a maximum possible score of 40 from the Japanese video games magazine Famitsu.
On January 20, 2022, Kojima received an Industry Legend Award from the Arab Game Awards.
On March 15, 2022, Kojima announced on Twitter that he had received the 72nd Minister of Education Award for Fine Arts from the Japanese Agency of Cultural Affairs.
International Video Game Hall of Fame Class of 2016 Induction: