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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.
There are only a handful of people who participated in MGS1 back in 1998 who are still a part of the new "Kojima Productions." There’s “Shin-chan" and "Matsuhanaan." “Bei-yan," who was a second-year rookie at the time. “Let's," who was new and worked exclusively on the VR mode,… https://t.co/9uKj54gR6ISeptember 3, 2025
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.
