Hideo Kojima explains why he doesn't want to the baton to anyone. „I would rather crush it”
Hideo Kojima is aware of the inevitable age of time, but he prefers to give a „small flame” of inspiration rather than look for his successors.
Hideo Kojima would rather "crush the baton" than it on to his successors, even though he is aware of the relentless age of time.
It's easy to forget, seeing the legendary developer at this or that show or photo, but the father of the Metal Gear series is already 62 years old. During this time, Kojima started a family and provided the world with many unforgettable and bizarre stories, after which he could easily rest on his laurels.
Despite this, Hideo Kojima isn't yet considering retirement. Currently, he is not only working on the other for Microsoft. Although he is aware that he may not have enough time for all his ideas.
Memento Mori
It's possible that the dev often recalls this phrase. In an interview for GQ (via Time Extension), he mentioned the illness that struck him in 2020, during the pandemic.
Feeling isolated and struggling with a sore eye that was making it hard for him to live and work, the legendary developer was worried about whether he would ever create anything again. He later decided to have surgery to deal with the problem and was uncertain about his recovery. It came to the point that Kojima conveyed his somewhat "last will" to his assistant - a list of ideas he would like to do.
I had all these ideas. So I wrote them down and ed them to my PA, as if it were my will. […] I kind of understood why people commit suicide. It was the end of the world.
Death Stranding 2. Kojima Productions
This experience changed his attitude, especially in the context of working in his own studio, independent from any publisher. However, this independence doesn't allow him to implement "even weirder" ideas, as he fears that poor sales might force him to lay off his well-known employees. Therefore, as he put it now, "he wants to die while creating something."
Small flame of inspiration and "flops" at Konami
Despite that, the developer has no intention of ing the baton to anyone and appointing his successor. In response to the question, he laughed and said, "he would rather crush the baton than give Hideo Kojima to anyone."
It's not that Kojima wants his achievements to be forgotten. As he put it in the interview, Kojima would rather on a "small flame" that ignites someone's own inspiration, rather than force them to copy the devs' ideas.
Every day, if I tweet something that I like, a director or an actor or a musician s me. They say, "I'm a creator because of your games." But they didn't receive the baton of Hideo Kojima. They received my small fire. They're not copying me. They're not trying to be me. They have this fire, and they light up their own. And they'll probably give that to someone else. There were legendary comic book artists when I was a boy. I didn't become a comic book artist – I was inspired by them, I was influenced.
OD. Kojima Productions
The developer believes that any attempt to forcibly follow in his footsteps would result in the bankruptcy of Kojima Productions. In short, Kojima doesn't see the point in having a successor. He prefers his work to be an inspiration rather than a model for future generations of creators.
Maybe it's also because of his past experiences of leaving a project without supervision. He briefly mentioned that during his time at Konami, he had some setbacks for that reason. However, he didn't give any titles.
