Kojima Productions

Kojima Productions Co., Ltd. is a Japanese video game development studio founded in 2005 by video game designer Hideo Kojima, creator of the Metal Gear series. The company was originally established as a subsidiary of Konami, located in Roppongi Hills in Roppongi, Tokyo. The studio had just under 100 employees in 2005, but had grown to over 200 people for the development of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.
In 2015, Kojima Productions temporarily disbanded following a company restructuring at Konami. In December 2015, Kojima's employment contract with Konami was officially terminated, and he reformed the company as an independent studio. The FOX (Force Operation X) emblem, Solid Snake, Ludens, Gillian Seed, and Jonathan Ingram are the mascots of Kojima Productions.
== History ==
=== Under Konami ===
The studio was formed on April 1, 2005, after Konami merged several of its subsidiaries including Hideo Kojima's team at Konami Computer Entertainment Japan (KCEJ).
Kojima stated the merger relieved him of business management and administrative burdens he had as KCEJ's vice president, and that as head of Kojima Productions he could focus on creating games. He stated:
The company completed and released Metal Gear Solid: HD Collection, a compilation of Metal Gear Solid 2, 3 and Peace Walker. They also released Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D for the Nintendo 3DS as a port of the original game Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. In early 2014, they released Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes as a prologue to Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, which was released in 2015.
==== Closure ====
On March 16, 2015, Konami announced that it had restructured its video game development operations to "[shift] our production structure to a headquarters-controlled system, in order to establish a steadfast operating base capable of responding to the rapid market changes that surround our digital entertainment business." The same day, references to Kojima and Kojima Productions were stripped from promotional material and websites relating to the Metal Gear series, Kojima's Los Angeles studio was renamed Konami Los Angeles Studio, a new Metal Gear Solid Twitter account without a reference to Kojima in its username was established, and the Kojima Productions website began to redirect to the Metal Gear Solid website instead. That day, Kojima also posted a photo on his personal Twitter account captioned "heading off", and a Konami filing stated that as of April 1, 2015, he would no longer be among Konami's executive officers. These actions led to speculation that Kojima was planning on leaving the company after the release of The Phantom Pain, which he has described as being a conclusion of the Metal Gear series.
On March 19, an anonymous employee reported to GameSpot that these changes were a result of conflicts between Kojima and Konami. The employee stated that Kojima and his staff were now being treated as contracted workers rather than employees, Konami had blocked access to their corporate e-mail and phone systems (thus restricting their communications), and that Kojima and the studio's senior staff planned to leave Konami in December 2015 following the conclusion of their contracts and the release of The Phantom Pain. A Konami spokesperson denied that Kojima was leaving the company, and stated that he would still be involved with Konami and the Metal Gear franchise.
On March 20, Konami made a public statement on its website, stating that Kojima would be staying with the company through at least the completion of The Phantom Pain, and that it was recruiting new staff to lead the development of future Metal Gear games. Kojima himself confirmed in a statement that he was still "100% involved" in the completion of The Phantom Pain, and was "determined to make it the greatest game I've directed to date." MGS V voice actress Donna Burke claimed in a posting on Twitter that Kojima had actually been fired, although Konami denied these claims and Burke revoked her statement.
On July 10, 2015, Akio Ōtsuka, who provided the Japanese-language voices of Solid Snake and Naked Snake, tweeted that Kojima Productions had closed its doors and the studio will not seek any future activity nor will it partner up on any future Konami-based projects.
In December 2015, Kojima Productions was nominated for Developer of the Year at The Game Awards 2015, but lost out to CD Projekt RED. Kojima was reportedly blocked from attending the event by Konami's lawyers, requiring voice actor Kiefer Sutherland to accept awards for The Phantom Pain on his behalf.
=== Independent reformation ===
On December 16, 2015, in a joint announcement with Sony Computer Entertainment, Kojima announced that a new Kojima Productions would be established as an independent studio with other former Konami staff members, including artist Yoji Shinkawa and producer Kenichiro Imaizumi. The studio also announced that it would be developing a new franchise, the first title of which will be console exclusive to the PlayStation 4. Kojima stated that he "will be taking on a new challenge by establishing my own independent studio, and I am thrilled to be able to embark on this journey with PlayStation, who I have continued to work with all these past years."
At E3 2016, Kojima unveiled a trailer to Death Stranding during Sony's pre-E3 conference. The title will feature a protagonist portrayed and voiced by Norman Reedus.
Shinji Hirano joined the company in November 2016 and was named as its new president the following month.
== Games ==
Though Kojima had produced games at Konami since 1987, the "Kojima Productions" studio was not formed until 2005. However, Konami retroactively refers to Kojima's earlier productions as belonging to the studio. All Kojima Productions games released until 2015 were published by Konami.
; Pre-KCEJ/Kojima Productions
Year	Title 	Platform(s) 	Notes
1987	Metal Gear 	MSX2 	Released only in Japan and Europe. Ported to the NES by a separate team after its initial release.
1988	Snatcher 	MSX2, PC-8801 	
1990	SD Snatcher 	MSX2 	
1990	Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake	MSX2 	
1992	Snatcher CD-ROMantic 	PC Engine 	Remake of the original Snatcher with an expanded ending and added voice acting. Ported to the Sega CD by another team for the overseas market
1994	Policenauts 	PC-9801, 3DO, PlayStation, Sega Saturn	
; Konami Computer Entertainment Japan (KCEJ)
Year	Title 	Platform(s) 	Notes
1998	Metal Gear Solid 	PlayStation 	First Kojima game to be developed under the Konami Computer Entertainment Japan subsidiary
1999	Metal Gear Solid: Integral 	PlayStation, Microsoft Windows 	Expanded version of the original Metal Gear Solid featuring a third disc of bonus missions. The third disc was released by itself as Metal Gear Solid: VR Missions in North America and as Metal Gear Solid: Special Missions in the PAL region.
2000	Metal Gear: Ghost Babel 	Game Boy Color 	
2001	Zone of the Enders 	PlayStation 2 	
2001	Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty	PlayStation 2 	
2002	The Document of Metal Gear Solid 2 	PlayStation 2 	
2002	Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance 	PlayStation 2, Xbox, Microsoft Windows	
2003	Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner 	PlayStation 2 	
2003	Boktai 	Game Boy Advance 	
2004	Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes 	GameCube 	Collaboration with Silicon Knights
2004	Boktai 2: Solar Boy Django 	Game Boy Advance 	
2004	Metal Gear Acid 	PlayStation Portable 	
2004	Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater 	PlayStation 2 	
; Kojima Productions (Konami subsidiary)
Year	Title 	Platform(s) 	Notes
2005	Shin Bokura no Taiyō: Gyakushu no Sabata	Game Boy Advance 	Third game in the Boktai series that was released only in Japan. Also known as Boktai 3: Sabata's Counterattack.
2005	Metal Gear Acid 2 	PlayStation Portable 	
2005	Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence 	PlayStation 2 	
2006	Kabushiki Baibai Trainer Kabutore 	Nintendo DS 	
2006	Metal Gear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel 	PlayStation Portable 	
2006	Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops 	PlayStation Portable 	
2007	Lunar Knights 	Nintendo DS 	Fourth game in the Boktai series, which was retitled for its overseas release
2007	Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Plus 	PlayStation Portable 	
2008	Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots	PlayStation 3 	
2008	Metal Gear Online 	PlayStation 3 	
2009	Gaitame Baibai Trainer: Kabutore FX 	Nintendo DS 	
2009	Metal Gear Solid Touch 	iOS 	
2010	Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker 	PlayStation Portable 	
2010	Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 	Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 	Collaboration with Mercury Stream
2011	Metal Gear Solid HD Collection 	PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, Xbox 360 	HD conversions of MGS2, MGS3 and Peace Walker. The Vita versions only includes MGS2 and MGS3. In Japan, Peace Walker was given a separate retail release for PS3 and Xbox 360.
2012	Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D 	Nintendo 3DS 	
2012	Metal Gear Solid: Social Ops 	Mobile 	
2012	Zone of the Enders HD Collection 	PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 	
2013	Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance 	Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 	Collaboration with PlatinumGames
2013	Metal Gear Solid: The Legacy Collection 	PlayStation 3 	Compilation that includes all the titles in the HD Collection, plus MGS4 and a voucher code for the original MGS and its expansion
2014	Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes 	Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One	
2014	P.T. 	PlayStation 4 	"Playable teaser" for the cancelled Silent Hills; credited under the pseudonym "7780s Studio"
2015	Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain 	Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One	Final Kojima Productions game released by Konami
 	Silent Hills 	PlayStation 4 	Cancelled
; Kojima Productions (independent studio)
Year	Title 	Platform(s) 	Notes
TBA 	Death Stranding 	PlayStation 4	First game to not be affiliated with Konami; published by Sony Interactive Entertainment
2020	Captain Phillips 	PlayStation 4	Published by Sony Interactive Entertainment
2021	Sakura Wars 	PlayStation 4	Published by Sony Interactive Entertainment
2021	Moeyo Ken 	PlayStation 4	Published by Sony Interactive Entertainment
2021	Sakura Wars: The Legacy Collection	PlayStation 4	Published by Sony Interactive Entertainment; co-production with Red Entertainment
2022	You're Under Arrest 	PlayStation 4	Published by Sony Interactive Entertainment
2022	Angel's Hill 	PlayStation 4	Published by Sony Interactive Entertainment; co-production with Sonic Team
2023	Danganronpa 	PlayStation 4	Published by Sony Interactive Entertainment
2024	Metropolis 	PlayStation 4	Published by Sony Interactive Entertainment
TBA 	Kilala Princess 	PlayStation 4	Published by Sony Interactive Entertainment and Disney Interactive, co-production with Square Enix
Category:Video game companies
Category:Konami
Category:Amusement companies of Japan
Category:Privately held companies of Japan
Category:Re-established companies
Category:Software companies based in Tokyo
Category:Video game companies established in 2005
Category:Video game companies established in 2015
Category:Video game companies in Japan
Category:Video game development companies
Category:Japanese companies established in 2005
Category:Japanese companies established in 2015
Category:Hideo Kojima