Konami Europe Executive Joins Kojima Productions as President

When famed developer Hideo Kojima started up Kojima Productions, he pulled in some of his former colleagues at Konami for the new studio. Artist Yoji Shinkawa and producer Kenichiro Imaizumi were among those who jumped ship from Konami for the new KojiPro. Today we can add another name. The Koalition has noticed that former Konami Europe president Shinji Hirano has been listed on LinkedIn as president of Kojima Productions since November 2016.

Hirano left Konami in March 2016, only a few months after the initial reports of Kojima himself leaving the publisher. Kojima's final exit came on December 15, with the developer announcing a new studio that very day. The new Kojima Productions is working on Death Stranding in collaboration with Sony Computer Entertainment, planned for a launch on PlayStation 4 and PC.

Kojima and Hirano are only a few of the folks that have left Konami over of the years as the company moved slowly away from game development. The list includes LovePlus senior producer Akari Uchida and character designer Mino Taro, Castlevania producer Koji Igarashi, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow and PES producer Dave Cox , PES UK team leader Jon Murphy, and Ninety-Nine Nights II and Blades of Time producer Tak Fujii.