KOJIMA’S MESSAGE TO YOUNG PEOPLE:

By chance, our interview is taking place just after Death Stranding has been completed. Asked how he feels, Kojima replies that, “Since it hasn’t gone on sale yet, the full impact of what I’ve accomplished really hasn’t hit me yet.

“Obviously, I’m very happy with what I’ve created, and I’m always confident that the game I’ve created is fantastic. But I still don’t feel the full satisfaction of someone who’s done everything they’ve set out to do. I mean, if I did, I wouldn’t be working in games anymore. I’ve completed one game, but already I’m thinking about what else I can create, what else I can accomplish. This thinking motivates me to then work on my next game. And since new technologies are coming out every day, I now have more tools to accomplish much more.”

A game as big as Death Stranding cannot be made alone. Kojima Productions started with just four employees; it now boasts a staff of eighty. Kojima says that without a robust team, he could have never made Death Stranding.

“When I’m hiring staff, I try to make sure that I work with people who are not me,” he says. “If I cloned myself eighty times, and we made a game together, it could never be fun. It’s because I work with people who have different sensibilities than I that I’m able to make the game more interesting and more stimulating. My main job is to share my vision. Sharing your vision with your staff can be difficult when you’re trying something completely new, so I try my best to explain it with words, illustrations, and sometimes with gestures and body language. And if that doesn’t work, I tell them to just trust me. (Laughs.)”

Kojima points out one other thing that is important when creating something as a team. A big game takes time to develop—and that requires each member of the team to be persistent as they travel the long road towards their goal.

“When you’re running alone and you get tired, it’s very easy to quit,” Kojima says. “But when you’re running with others, you feel motivated to push yourself on. And when you reach your goal, you get to share your victory with others. I think that’s one major difference with writing a novel. You never experience that sense of absolute solitude that a novelist experiences.”

The ideal size for a game development team changes with the times. Today, with freely distributed game engines and the ability to promote a game on the internet, it’s possible to create a game with a smaller team. “If there ever was an ideal time to try to create something, it’s now,” Kojima says. “I’m so jealous of today’s young people.”

In a past WIRED interview, Kojima mentioned how, “If I don’t succeed, no one else is going to try what I’m doing. If I fail, I’m worried that nobody else in Japan is going to try to reach for the stars like I’m doing.”

Asked if he still considers himself something of a trailblazer, he replies affirmatively. After all, he did go all out and create a blockbuster game right after establishing his own studio, even after being repeatedly told that no one has successfully gone independent. “A lot of people still cling to this old-fashioned belief that you can only create something if you work at a big company,” he says. “I needed to prove that this thinking was wrong.” He wanted to encourage more people to follow in his footsteps.

“Remember how I mentioned that there was a dark side to connections? One thing that happens when you connect to people and involve them in something you are working on is that you begin to shoulder their burden as well. Because if I fail, my staff will also be associated with that failure. That’s why I needed to