Kojima Productions

Kojima Productions is a video game development studio headed by Hideo Kojima. Located in Roppongi Hills in Roppongi, Tokyo, Japan, the studio had just under 100 employees when it was first formed in 2005. During the development of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, the studio employed more than 200 people. The company's logo is the FOX unit badge from Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.

History
The developer was formed on April 1, 2005, after Konami merged several of its subsidiaries, including Kojima's team at Konami Computer Entertainment Japan (KCEJ).

The company was intended to relieve Kojima of the business management and administrative responsibilities he had previously as KCEJ's vice president. As the head of Kojima Productions, Kojima is able to focus solely on creating games.

While the company has largely focuses on games in the Metal Gear series, it has also developed games not in that series, such as Lunar Knights.

Transfarring
A gameplay that allows the player to transfer the game between some PlayStation consoles.

Fox Engine
A game engine being developed by Kojima Productions for use in future titles.

"Next" Metal Gear Solid
Hideo Kojima stated at the 2009 Tokyo Game Show: "Solid Snake's storyline has ended with MGS4. But there's still a lot more when it comes to Naked Snake's storyline."

In mid 2011, a Fox Engine demo was shown during a lecture held by Kojima at the University of South California, in which the militiaman (wearing eyepatch on his right eye) was resembling a middle-aged Big Boss.

In November 2011, Kojima alluded to be working on "Project Ogre", and released a screenshot of a game in development indicating that it involves a war either in an African or a Middle Eastern country including the apparently same character from Fox Engine demo seen at USC.

In a November 2011 interview with UK Official PlayStation Magazine about the next Metal Gear Solid, Kojima said "I think we'll probably have to make it at some point, but what that will be, we have no idea.". Kojima added, "For those of you desire for authentic stealth MGS, I want you to patiently wait for the sequel coming in future." At the time he would only say that his new game will be running on Fox Engine and would support Transfarring, be multiplatform, and be designed with a global audience in mind.

"Rather than making something cinematic, [I plan to] make something very free." Kojima told CNN of his new game, in late 2011. He went on to describe the game as set in an open world, in which players are free to explore. Kojima expects players to be able to find content even after 100 hours.

Story of the upcoming game is likely to be related to sometime between Peace Walker Incident and Outer Heaven Uprising. However, in December 2011, Kojima talked about initial ideas for his new game's storyline and how the staff insisted on him being involved in development of the game:

"Metal Gear Solid 4 wrapped up in 2008, and the dev team took post-project time off right after that. But, of course, we were in a situation where we had to start planning for MGS5. So I started coming up with several ideas. I had several ideas for a game featuring The Boss and the Cobra Unit during the invasion of Normandy. I then handed these plans over to the team so they could take over and make the game. I presented my ideas to the team during the summer of 2008. However, simply dropping MGS5 on the younger staff members was a bit heavy and there was resistance to doing it without my involvement. At the time, I was working on a new project. It was during the planning phase of that project and I wanted the staff to take charge of the new title. There was resistance to that idea, though. It was then that someone proposed the idea for what would become Rising. It was a game based on Raiden's story, since MGS5 had too much weight to it. It would be a side story that the team felt more comfortable working with."

In January 2012, Kojima dropped more hints about the project, stating: "It's a very subdued experience – it’s a little bit different to what I’ve done up until now. On the surface it will look similar, but once you get into it, it will be a different experience – and I’m hoping people look forward to that. But Project Ogre is going to take a lot of time, so I want to produce some other things on the side, like I’m doing with Metal Gear Rising. So while I’m working on Project Ogre there might be a couple of other projects going on at the same time."

Official announcement
On February 21, 2012, a site owned by Kojima Productions was recently uploaded promoting a new Metal Gear game. The only thing known is that it involves Big Boss again, and that Kojima Productions is recruiting engineers at the GDC pavillion between March 6th and March 9th to "help develop next-gen game engine technology for use with the Fox engine", "high-end consoles and PC." In addition, the entry to the site has an "Uncle Sam"-style poster called "BIGBOSS wants YOU! THE "NEXT" MGS" and a motto which reads "DEVELOPMENT WITHOUT BORDERS" is seen under it. No official title for the game was mentioned. The site itself contained a manilla folder (in a manner similar to classified folders) that contained artwork of Big Boss wearing a poncho/cape with a Sneaking Suit, only with a new emblem replacing the Militaires Sans Frontieres logo, as well as a hound accompanying him. Kojima also posted a larger version of the "Diamond Dogs" emblem on his Twitter account. The Development Without Borders website was eventually taken down, due to the recruitment process at GDC pavillion ending at that point.

Post-official announcement
On March 14, 2012, Kojima released a screenshot of a motion capture test for the game in development.

On March 19, 2012, in the Smithsonian American Art Museum at the "Art of Video Games" exhibit which was held for inducting Metal Gear series after selling more than 31 millions, Kojima stated that he couldn’t say too much about his new game, but “this year, next year, I am working on something that I think will become the shining moment” for his career and the Metal Gear series. He also said that he’ll be 50 next year and that he wants to create that moment now. Kojima also stated "The game I'm working on right now is dealing with quite a few issues that are pretty delicate and taboo." Kojima said "I'm not sure if they'll end up being in the final product or not, but that's something that I want to continue to strive for." He said it's his goal to "bring those real-life issues to the forefront," but he has to temper that with making the game fun to play. He said that as a creator who constantly sees the flaws in his own work after it's finished, he always feels that "what I'm making right now, in my mind, is the best -- though I can't really talk about that right now." Kojima also mentioned visiting a military base in San Diego to test a shooting simulator, but again mentioned that he couldn't talk about the trip in detail.

Metal Gear Solid 5 will be set in 1970s Africa, star Big Boss and - and maybe, just maybe - show the birth of baby Solid Snake, according to an in-depth investigation in the latest issue of PSM3 on April 20, 2012. Metal Gear series expert Dan Dawkins (who correctly predicted the plot, main themes and characters in GTA V months before the official first reveal) provides forensic analysis of the Metal Gear timeline, while piecing together over 12 months of Kojima's cryptic tweets, a raft of existing clues and all the 'Next MGS' imagery to date. The Kojima Productions site itself 'hides' another image of Big Boss with a 'Diamond Dogs' logo on his shoulder, which Dawkins claims is a reference to both the 1974 David Bowie album Diamond Dogs (Kojima being a confirmed Bowie fan), but, more importantly, the diamond mines of Angola, against which some of the action could be set. Previously, characters such as Frank Jaeger aka Cyborg Ninja and Big Boss himself have all been revealed as having links to the continent via countries like South Africa, Rhodesia (neé Zimbabwe) and Mozambique, further reinforcing Africa's importance to MGS canon. As well as all that, PSM3 explains why the choice of location and timeline could mean a reprisal for Gray Fox (aka Ninja from MGS on PSone), focuses on the philosophical dispute between Big Boss and Major Zero that inspired the plot of MGS4, and reveals how the game could address modern world, mid-economic-recession, issues. Finally, they investigate Kojima's 'Project Ogre' and whether it's the same thing as the 'next' MGS and when both games might be out.

According to PSM3 magazine, the storyline of the next MGS is set to be between 1974 and 1980:

"The 'Diamond Dogs' logo on Big Boss' shoulder leads to several potential inferences (more later), but one is its direct reference to David Bowie's 'Diamond Dogs' album, released in 1974. Kojima is a confirmed Bowie fan, and during the prologue of PS2's MGS3: Snake Eater, Big Boss' commanding officer, Major Zero, refers to himself as 'Major Tom' (taken from the lyric 'ground control to Major Tom' from Bowie's Space Oddity single). Trivia: Kojima originaly intended to play 'Space Oddity' and 'Ashes to Ashes' in MGS3's end credits. Major Zero's adoption of a David Bowie's lyric has a deeper implication for the 'next MGS' plot, as we'll explain.

So, not only does 1974 directly follow the plot of MGS: Peace Walker, but it coincides with a neat 'hole' in the absurdly rich MGS timeline during the mid 70s to late 1980s where relatively little is set in the story's lore. At the end of Peace Walker, Master Miller reveals he's sending some of MSF's soldiers (Militaires Sans Frontieres, Big Boss' unit in MGS: PW) to Angola. "It's a non-state army to use however they want. They've probably decided there's no sense in wiping them out just yet. Better to make... use of them. Indeed they have... There's a site near Angola..."

It sounds a bit serious, but Angola is the location of Africa's biggest diamond mines, implying more than a 'Diamond Dogs' Bowie reference. Dig deeper and the continent of Africa develops even greater significance for the MGS canon..."

PSM3 also dropped some hints about the development of PS4 which is said to be one of the next-gen consoles that the upcoming MGS would be released for.

Games
Though Kojima has developed games at Konami since 1987, the Kojima Productions studio was not formed until 2005. However, Konami retroactively refers to Kojima's earlier productions as belonging to Kojima Productions. All Kojima Productions games were published by Konami. Games developed by Kojima Productions are in bold.

Metal Gear

 * Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (X360, PS3, PC, TBA)
 * Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D (3DS, 2012)
 * Metal Gear Arcade (Arcade, 2010)
 * Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (PSP, 2010)
 * Metal Gear Solid Touch (iPod Touch, iPhone, 2009)
 * Metal Gear Online (PS3, 2008)
 * Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS3, 2008)
 * Metal Gear Solid 2: Bande Dessinée (DVD, 2008)
 * Metal Gear Solid Mobile (Mobile/Nokia, 2008)
 * Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Plus (PSP, 2007)
 * Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (PSP, 2006)
 * Metal Gear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel (PSP, 2006)
 * Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence (PS2, 2005)
 * Metal Gear Acid 2 (PSP, 2005)
 * Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (PS2, 2004)
 * Metal Gear Acid (PSP, 2004)
 * Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes (GCN, 2004)
 * Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance (XB, PS2, PC, 2002)
 * The Document of Metal Gear Solid 2 (PS2, 2002)
 * Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (PS2, 2001)
 * Metal Gear: Ghost Babel (GBC, 2000)
 * Metal Gear Solid: VR Missions (PS1, 1999)
 * Metal Gear Solid: Integral (PS1, PC, 1999)
 * Metal Gear Solid (PS1, 1998)
 * Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (MSX2, 1990)
 * Metal Gear (MSX2, 1987)

Other

 * Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (X360, PS3, 2010)
 * Gaitame Baibai Trainer: Kabutore FX (DS, 2009)
 * Lunar Knights (DS, 2007)
 * Kabushiki Baibai Trainer Kabutore (DS, 2007)
 * Shin Bokura no Taiyō Gyakushū no Sabata (GBA, 2005)
 * Boktai 2: Solar Boy Django (GBA, 2004)
 * Boktai: The Sun is in Your Hand (GBA, 2003)
 * Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner (PS2, 2003)
 * Zone of the Enders (PS2, 2001)
 * Policenauts (PC-98, 3DO, PSX, Sega Saturn, 1994-1996)
 * Snatcher (PC-8801, MSX2, PCE, Sega CD/Mega CD, PSX, Sega Saturn, 1988-1996)