“No One Ever Told Me Such A Conversation Had Taken Place” – Kojima Wasn’t Aware Of The Wachowskis’ Matrix Game Offer
Kworld Trend | “No One Ever Told Me Such A Conversation Had Taken Place” – Kojima Wasn’t Aware Of The Wachowskis’ Matrix Game Offer ,
Update []:
Following our report earlier this week on Bergstresser’s comments about the Wachowskis trying to get Kojima to work on a Matrix game in the late ’90s, Kojima weighed in on the story.
In response to the news breaking, Kojima said that if he had heard it at the time, he “probably wouldn’t have been able to accept the offer right away” due to his responsibilities within the group. Solid metal gear 2seemingly confirming Bergstresser’s explanation that Konami was reluctant to let him work on the project, but suggested “maybe there could have been a way to make it work”.
Here is Kojima’s full story:
“I was surprised to see on social media that the Wachowski sisters had ‘proposed a Matrix game project to me!’ in 1999. In all these 26 years, no one has ever told me that such a conversation had taken place. At the time, we were mutual fans and exchanged emails. The Matrix hadn’t yet been released in Japan, but I had already seen it in American theaters and in previews. When the Wachowskis came to Japan to a promotion, I think I met them three times.
“In the morning, we had a Famitsu interview in Shinjuku. This time, Geof Darrow joined us for the discussion session. In the afternoon, they were invited to the headquarters of KONAMI’s CS division. At the time, I was vice president of KCE JAPAN, a wholly-owned subsidiary. When I arrived at the headquarters, their meeting with Mr. Kitaue, the head of the CS division, had just ended. I then joined them and we discussed for about an hour without an interpreter (Aki wasn’t even there).
“That evening I attended the first screening and party, where I also met Joel Silver. Even then no offers were mentioned.
“At that time, I was already extremely busy with MGS2 and I probably couldn’t have accepted the offer right away. But if someone had told me, there might have been a way to make it work.”
Original story: The Wachowskis previously approached Hideo Kojima about making a Matrix game in the late ’90s, but were reportedly shut down by one of the company’s top executives, according to a former vice president of licensing at Konami Digital Entertainment.
Following the release of The matrix In American theaters in early 1999, the film became an instant critical and commercial success, winning over audiences with its magnificent blend of philosophical themes, Hong Kong-style action scenes and groundbreaking special effects.
As a result, there was a lot of speculation in the video game media at the time about a potential Matrix video game, and even more rumors swirled about which studio would eventually be tapped to make it.
In a December 1999 article in the multi-format magazine NextGen, it was suggested, for example, that the Solid metal gear The team, led by famed designer Hideo Kojima, was among the frontrunners in discussions to make a Matrix game, with the Wachowskis talking with the creator about lending his team’s talents to the adaptation. But, as history tells us, this version of reality never came to fruition, with Shiny Entertainment eventually winning the license and producing two separate Matrix games: Enter the matrix in 2003 and Neo’s path in 2005.
However, recently, while chatting with Christopher Bergstresser, former VP of Licensing at Konami Digital Entertainment (about another project he worked on during his time at Sega), he explained why those conversations never resulted in a deal, stating that Konami boss Kasumi Kitaue ended those discussions almost as soon as they started because he wanted Kojima to focus on the Metal Gear Solid series.
“The Wachowskis were big Kojima fans,” Bergstresser told me. “So Kazumi Kitaue, Kojima, Aki Saito (who still works with Kojima) and I were at Konami headquarters, and we got a call from the Wachowskis, who wanted to come and meet Kojima. So they did!
“They both came with their visual effects specialist. [editor’s note: an earlier version of the story referenced the Wachowskis’ concept artist Geof Darrow, but this detail was incorrect]and indeed they said to Kojima: “We really want you to make the Matrix game. Can you do this? Aki translated this into Japanese for Mr. Kitaue, and Kitaue just looked at them and said clearly, “No.” We were still able to enjoy the Japanese premiere and after-party of Matrix.”
Considering the timeline, this makes a lot of sense. At the time, Kojima and his team were working hard in the preparation stages of the create Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty – a game that Kojima later noted several times “shares some similarities” with Matrix, such as “characters running on walls and such.” As a result, it likely would not have been beneficial for Kojima to take on another major project at this critical juncture and would likely have served as a distraction. Still, it’s something we’d be curious to see, given that the designer/director has rarely, if ever, worked on licensed projects.
Taking a look at Kojima’s Metal Gear Solid 2 development diary, the details of Bergstresser’s account appear to be confirmed, with Kojima mentioning that on August 25, 1999, he met with the Wachowskis and their concept artist Geof Darrow, at Hyatt Park, Shinjuku, on the day of the Japanese premiere of The Matrix.
However, speaking to another former Konami employee, who wished to remain anonymous, they suggested that the story was not entirely accurate, stating that Kojima continued to “show strong interest” in a Matrix game after Kitaue’s comment and revealing that there was “tremendous disappointment” among team members that the creators did not end up collaborating on a project together.
We’ve reached out to Akihiro Saito and the Wachowskis to try to get more details, and will update the article if we hear back.
