Splinter Cell director says Hideo Kojima's auteur status is well deserved since "the result speaks for itself"
Jul. 7, 2024The Death Stranding and Metal Gear Solid director is basically a celebrity at this point
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Hideo Kojimais one of the most recognizable names in gaming as the Metal Gear Solid andDeath Stranding 2director has not only been loudly at the forefront of all of his game’s marketing campaigns, but he’s even brushed shoulders with Hollywood celebrities again and again throughout the decades, in particular with his upcoming horror thing (?)OD.
Kojima’s lengthy career stretches back to the 1980s where he first served as a director, designer, and writer on cyberpunky visual novel Snatcher, as well as the first isometric Metal Gear games. But his breakout success, the game that catapulted his name into auteur territory, was the stealth-laden Metal Gear Solid with all its anti-war messaging and ambitiously-framed, sometimes overindulgent cutscenes that have since become emblematic of Kojima’s games.
Although as modern blockbuster games become bigger and bigger, with sometimes thousands of developers working on a single project, the idea of an auteur becomes more controversial. It’s easy to attribute an indie game’s success to its solo-developer, but when hundreds of developer’s fingerprints are etched into Death Stranding 2, is it still okay to label Kojima as the author? The creator? To heap all the praise onto his lap? Coulon certainly thinks Kojima can be thought of as the main architect, but it all raises some interesting questions, I think.
The Splinter Cell director also mentioned that Metal Gear Solid’s “clear rules” showed the team ‘how stealth should be done.”
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Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that’s vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he’ll soon forget.
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