Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima probably shocked many of his fans when he decided to move out of Konami to head Kojima Productions, but it looks like he is not done with the company yet. News has it that Kojima is hiring ex-Konami artists to work on his upcoming game, Death Stranding
According to Game Rant, Kojima had already sparked a lot of controversy when he hired a former Konami president last year by the name of Shinji Hirano. And now, thanks to some updated LinkedIn profiles, fans know that the team has added a bunch more ex-workers from Konami like Yasuhiro Kawakami (cinematic artist), Chihoko Uchiyama (Konami senior character designer) as well as game developers Jackie Tan and Masaki Saito.
News also has it that Kojima will be borrowing the Guerilla Game's Decima engine for Death Stranding. That's the same engine used for the upcoming Horizon Zero Dawn, and Kojima has also hired Akio Sakamoto, who helped design the FOX game engine, no doubt, he will be handling the way Death Stranding integrates with GG's Decima engine.
As of now, there are about 10 former Konami employees working on Death Stranding, and it is not that confusing of a move for Kojima. Death Stranding looks to be one ambitious game - from an independent studio, no less - and it would be understandable that Kojima would like to bring in people that he had worked with previously.
Konami is in a bit of a pickle right now after the departure of Kojima. The Metal Gear Solid franchise, though under their banner, was something that fans deeply connected with Kojima, and it feels like Kojima is pulling his fans along with him, leaving any future Metal Gear games in the dust. It also does not help that Hollywood director Guillermo del Toro had expressed his ill sentiments to the studio.
No official release date has been announced for Death Stranding but people are hoping for a 2017 release.
