Hideo Kojima says his imagination never shuts off—and he wouldn’t have it any other way. In a new interview, the 62-year-old creator behind Metal Gear and Death Stranding compared his relentless flow of ideas to an illness he’s learned to live with. “It’s almost like a disease. I’m imagining things all the time. Even when I’m talking to my family. In my head, I’m in a totally different world,” he said, adding that he’s grateful to have a job that lets him create whenever inspiration strikes.
This restless creativity has defined Kojima’s career for nearly four decades. Metal Gear debuted in 1987, just a year after he joined Konami, and he steered the franchise through 2015 with Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. That ambitious, unfinished opus reimagined stealth as an open-world sandbox stretching across Afghanistan and Angola-Zaire, cementing his reputation for pushing boundaries in design and storytelling.
His work often felt eerily prescient. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, released in 2001, explored information control, digital manipulation, and the threat of artificial intelligence long before those concepts dominated mainstream conversation. It’s the kind of world-building that made Kojima a singular voice in the medium.
A decade has now passed since his split from Konami, a turning point that led to the formation of Kojima Productions and the birth of a new universe with Death Stranding in 2019. That game’s central theme—reconnecting a fractured society—landed with uncanny timing just before the pandemic’s isolation. “I created a game about connections, and then COVID-19 came in and everyone was isolated. We all experienced it at once, and we’ve overcome it. So, I think we’re a little stronger,” he reflected. The pressure of those years nearly broke him. “It had gotten to a point where I almost gave up. But I came back, and I feel like I reconnected with myself through this project.”
Meanwhile, Metal Gear continues without its original architect. The 2025 remake, Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, launched to strong reviews without Kojima’s involvement, even after Konami reportedly invited him to try the remaster. It’s a reminder that his legacy now lives in parallel paths: one that honors his past work, and another that carries his vision forward.
Looking ahead, Kojima’s slate is as ambitious as ever. He’s already mapped out Death Stranding 3 and has expressed a desire to eventually pass the baton to someone else. That world is also expanding beyond games: a live-action Death Stranding film produced by A24 and directed by Michael Sarnoski is slated for 2027, and an in-universe anime spin-off is in development.
For Kojima, the “disease” of creativity is both burden and gift. It keeps him restless, always imagining, forever building new worlds—often just a few steps ahead of where the rest of us are going.
