Hideo Kojima hires several more former Konami employees to theDeath Strandingdevelopment team, including a senior character artist and a cinematic artist.
Late last year, headlines were made whenHideo Kojima hired Shinji Harano, a former Konami president to Kojima Productions, where he is developing his next game,Death Stranding.Death Strandingis the first game that Kojima has announced following his departure from Konami in 2015 and some found it unusual that the games industry veteran had hired someone who had served as an executive at his former employer.
However, the former Konami president is just one of a handful of ex-Konami developers who Kojima has enlisted to createDeath Stranding. According togamingboltwhich points to recently updated LinkedIn profiles, Kojima Productions has just made several more hires, including Masaki Saito and Jackie Tan (two Konami game developers), Chihoko Uchiyama (Konami senior character designer), and Yasuhiro Kawakami (a cinematic artist).
Akio Sakamoto, who helped to design the FOX game engine, is another recent hire, something which could help the Kojima Productions team make the most out of theDecima game engine (whichDeath Strandingshares withHorizon: Zero Dawn). Counting Kojima, Harano and several other ex-Konami hires made last year, theDeath Strandingteam now includes at least 10 former Konami employees.
It’s not hard to see why Kojima would want to work alongside so many former Konami employees. Although Kojima had a rough time with Konami, reportedly beinglocked in a separate room for part ofMetal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain’s development, it’s unlikely that any of these new hires contributed to that environment in any way. Moreover, asDeath Strandingis one seriously ambitious game, including photorealistic graphics, it makes sense that Kojima would want to work with people that he already knows.
It’s also not hard to see why so many Konami employees would want to leave the company either, if reports are true. It has been alleged thatKonami has poor working conditionsfor its employees, including aggressively demoting employees and moving them to entirely different departments, as well as closely monitoring their movements as well. It should be stressed that these allegations are just that – allegations – but if that really does go on at the company then few could blame the former Konami employees for accepting positions at Kojima Productions.
AsDeath Stranding’s development enters ‘full swing’ this year, gamers could soon see the affects that these new hires have had. Kojima continues to tease the game, including the release ofalternateDeath Strandingtrailersand encouraging fans to come up with theories so hopefully the developer will offer another glimpse at what the team is working on soon.
