Post
Hideo Kojima's post-Konami studio — a 100-person indie that ships AAA games funded by whoever wants the prestige.
Founded in late 2015 by Hideo Kojima after his very public exit from Konami, Kojima Productions is technically independent but operates closer to a 'private auteur' studio funded per-project by partners. Sony funded Death Stranding (2019) and Death Stranding 2 (2025); Microsoft funds the upcoming OD horror game; Sony Pictures funds the Death Stranding film. The studio is roughly 100 people and operates with creative freedom usually reserved for indie teams at far smaller scale.
Example
Death Stranding's 'connected delivery' multiplayer system — players asynchronously building infrastructure for each other — was widely misunderstood at launch and is now seen as an early reference for asynchronous social design that influenced Helldivers 2 and Elden Ring's messaging system.
Why it matters
Kojima Productions is the modern blueprint for the auteur studio: small, independent, and funded by platform holders willing to pay for the prestige rather than the unit economics. It's an experiment in whether a single creator's brand can command AAA budgets indefinitely.
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