The world’s most famous video game creator almost adapted one of cinema’s most famous franchises. Indeed, a new report states that Hideo Kojima could have designed a Matrix game.
After the release of the first film in 1999, the Wachowski sisters organized a meeting with the director of Metal Gear Solid as part of the Japanese premiere of the feature film. This one-on-one reportedly ended with a simple refusal from the developer… Or at least, that’s what the initial version of the story suggested.
In reality, a former Konami executive, Kasumi Kitaue, was present. The refusal was his decision, as he wanted Kojima to continue his work on the Metal Gear Solid franchise. A former vice president of licensing for the Japanese publisher recounted this in a recent interview.
« The Wachowskis were big fans of Kojima. Kazumi Kitaue, Kojima, Aki Saito (who still works with Kojima), and I were at Konami headquarters when we got a call from the Wachowskis, who wanted to come and meet Kojima. And that’s exactly what they did!
They arrived with their graphic designer and said to Kojima, “We really want you to make the Matrix game. Can you do it?” Aki translated this into Japanese for Mr. Kitaue, and Kitaue looked at them and replied clearly, “No.” We still got to enjoy the Japanese premiere of The Matrix and the afterparty. »
At that time, Hideo Kojima was working on Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. A game that doesn’t hide its inspiration from cinema and even The Matrix. A former Konami employee went even further, claiming that Kojima had kept « a strong interest” in a Matrix game and that Kitaue’s refusal had been a “huge disappointment ».
Finally, in 2003, Enter The Matrix, developed by Shiny Entertainment, was released on PS2, GameCube, Xbox, and PC. The game received extremely mixed reviews.
