Hideo Kojima recently shared some candid thoughts about the future of his company, Kojima Productions, especially regarding what might happen when he’s no longer around to lead it. At over sixty and having faced some health challenges, Kojima has been reflecting on his legacy and the difficulty others might have replicating his creative approach.
He expressed a fear that if Kojima Productions tried to continue making games exactly as he does, it would actually fail and potentially go out of business. It’s a pretty striking admission from someone who’s helped shape the industry for over four decades.
‘People Won’t Understand It’
In an interview with GQ, Kojima opened up about his reluctance to pass the creative leadership baton. He said,
“I had all these flops when I did that at Konami. I won’t name titles. If it’s a sequel, that’s quite easy. But a game that no one has ever seen before? Even if I write something, people won’t understand it.”
He was asked if he planned to hand over control at Kojima Productions when he’s too old to develop games, and his answer was very clear:
“I am not going to pass the baton to anyone. I will rather crush the baton… [Laughs.] I don’t need to give ‘Hideo Kojima’ to anyone. If I pass the baton to my staff and tell them to make things the same way I do, the company will not succeed and will go out of business.”
Rather than expecting others to copy his exact style, Kojima hopes to inspire his team to find their own creative paths. He described this as giving them a ‘small fire’ to nurture and grow, which feels like a more personal and hopeful way of thinking about his legacy.
Interestingly, Kojima also revealed last month that he has a USB stick filled with game ideas that he plans to share after he’s gone. But it seems the intention isn’t for the company to just replicate his ideas blindly, but to use them as inspiration for new projects.
It’s a bit of a sobering thought, isn’t it? How many creators can say that no one else could truly carry on their work the way they do? But it also feels honest and humble. What do you think about Kojima’s views on his company’s future? Can a legacy live on without the original creator at the helm?
