It’s hard to say what the future holds for Kojima Productions. After the release of Death Stranding Director’s Cut for PC this March, not much has been revealed about what Hideo Kojima’s studio has in store for the rest of 2022. Last month in a Twitter post, Kojima teased what could be coming down the pipeline: “This year, I’m going to start a new work in earnest and move to the next level of experimentation with a radical project.” The team is rumored to have multiple projects in active development, and some new job postings are pointing towards bigger things on the horizon.
Taking a look at the company’s LinkedIn page, 21 positions are now open, from producers, artists, and sound designers to AI programmers and game designers. The listings mention that English proficiency is a major plus, which implies that the studio wants to continue focusing on quality native-level content going forward. The content of these job listings also implies that Kojima Productions will continue working on AAA titles alongside smaller projects.
In early January, Kojima appeared on a radio show and mentioned some of his current projects, including a AAA game that “everyone can enjoy,” a smaller project that is not an open-world title or a shooter, and a new anime project. Speaking to Famitsu, Kojima also expressed what many game studios are looking forward to in 2022–getting back to normal. “I hope to regain the flexible, communicative, and speedy production rhythm we had before Corona as a studio,” he said.
In November 2021, Kojima Productions announced that it would open a new business division focusing on television and film in Los Angeles. It’s unclear whether we’ll see anything from this area of the studio for some time, but the developer recently stated that he wants to “make this the year that we take a step forward into a different medium and expression than games.”