As Metal Gear Solid turns 27 years old, Hideo Kojima says "there are only a handful of people who participated" on the seminal classic who are "still a part of the new 'Kojima Productions'"

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While the current Metal Gear series producer had a "Special Thanks" credit in the game

Hideo Kojima is reflecting on the original Metal Gear Solid, saying that there's only a few team members left who are still with him at Kojima Productions.

Less than a week after the release of Metal Gear Solid Delta, and two days after the 10th anniversary of Metal Gear Solid 5, September 3, 2025, marks the 27th anniversary of Metal Gear Solid (or its release in Japan, at least). And 27 years later, Hideo Kojima is still creating games, with his studio, Kojima Productions, releasing Death Stranding 2 just a few months ago.

Reminiscing on the launch of Metal Gear Solid over on Twitter, Kojima noted that "There are only a handful of people who participated in MGS1 back in 1998 who are still a part of the new 'Kojima Productions.'" The names listed by Kojima include "Shin-chan," who I assume has to be longtime Metal Gear artist Yoji Shinkawa and not the famous anime character, and Matsuhanaan, who I'd wager is Yoshikazu Matsuhana, who has been working with Kojima since Snatcher.

Kojima also namedrops "Bei-yan," "Let's," and "Aki," which are far less identifiable names; however, he mentioned Aki was "from the International Consumer Division," which presumably means it's Akiyoshi Saito.

There are still staff from earlier games in the series at Konami, with current Metal Gear series producer Noriaki Okamura being a special thanks listing in the original game, and having worked on earlier Kojima titles like Snatcher and Policenauts, before joining the series with Metal Gear Acid 2.

Metal Gear Solid Delta replaces the original game's bikini model posters with new pictures and family photos of the same women 21 years later.

Scott McCrae
Scott McCrae
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Scott has been freelancing for over three years across a number of different gaming publications, first appearing on GamesRadar+ in 2024. He has also written for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, VG247, Play, TechRadar, and others. He's typically rambling about Metal Gear Solid, God Hand, or any other PS2-era titles that rarely (if ever) get sequels.

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