The visionary hopes his projects provide people with meaningful role models.
Last weekend the Lucca Comics & Games 2025 festival took place in Lucca, Italy, and Hideo Kojima attended. He participated in a special panel alongside two actors from Death Stranding 2: On the Beach — Luca Marinelli (Neil Vahn) and Alissa Jung (Lucy).
Much of the conversation centered on the experience of working on Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, including filming during the pandemic. Kojima also offered more personal reflections on what motivates him as a creator.
I was raised on films and books. As a child the world often felt very dark and there weren’t many positive examples to follow. Cinema rescued me: its characters, dialogue and themes gave me the strength to keep going. I want to return that to people, and that’s one reason I make games. If someone plays my game and years later thinks, “I want to keep living because this game encouraged me,” that would be my greatest joy. I put that conviction at the core of my game-making.
Source: iXBT.games