The Wachowskis, the writers and directors behind the Matrix movies, once asked Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima to design a Matrix video game, but publisher Konami reportedly turned it down.
That’s according to Time Extension, which said that while a December 1999 edition of NextGen magazine stated Kojima was apparently in the running to develop a game based on the blockbuster movie, Konami exec Kasumi Kitaue shot down discussions in favor of keeping Kojima focused on the Metal Gear series instead.
“The Wachowskis were big fans of Kojima,” Konami Digital Entertainment VP of licensing, Christopher Bergstresser, told Time Extension. “So Kazumi Kitaue, Kojima, Aki Saito (who still works with Kojima), and I were at the Konami HQ, and we got a call from the Wachowskis, who wanted to come in and meet with Kojima. So they did!
“The two of them came in with their concept artist, and effectively they said to Kojima, ‘We really want you to do the Matrix game. Can you do that?’ Aki translated this into Japanese for Mr. Kitaue, and Kitaue just looked at them and told them plainly, ‘No.’ We did still get to enjoy the Matrix Japanese premiere and afterparty, though.”
Interestingly, that’s not quite how everyone recalls events. Another former Konami employee, this one unwilling to go on record, claimed Konami had actually shown “strong interest” in the game, and there was “immense disappointment” when the project didn’t go ahead.
The Matrix franchise was adapted into a series of games nonetheless, starting with Shiny Entertainment’s Enter the Matrix in 2003, follow up The Matrix: Path of Neo in 2005, and Monolith Production’s The Matrix Online in the same year. We were also treated to a Matrix-themed tech demo in 2021, The Matrix Awakens: An Unreal Engine 5 Experience, in which Epic Games showed us what Unreal Engine 5 was capable of.
It didn’t turn out too badly for Kojima or Konami, either; after 1998’s Metal Gear Solid, Kojima and his team then concentrated on the critically-acclaimed and award-winning Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, which was released in 2001.
And Kojima is equally busy now, of course. With Death Stranding 2 out the door, Kojima is working on a number of new projects, including horror game OD for Xbox Game Studios. He revealed the first trailer for it last month, sparking speculation that it is connected to P.T. in some way. Certainly, there are striking similarities. The mysterious game will star Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’ Sophia Lillis, Hunters’ Udo Kier, and Euphoria’s Hunter Schafer, with the trailer showcasing Lillis’ character in a spooky house, lighting candles before meeting a malevolent figure.
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world’s biggest gaming sites and publications. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
