Game designer Hideo Kojima celebrates his 63rd birthday today, August 24, and he does not plan to pack it up anytime soon.
Posting on social media, Kojima said he is aware he will not live forever–in fact he already knows how he wants to die–so he is being particularly thoughtful about how he spends his time.
“As I get older, the things I ‘have to do’ and the things I ‘want to do’ continue to increase. At the same time, the time I ‘have to do them’ continues to decrease,” he said. “I constantly need to reassess how I use my time and how I live my life. That said, once you’ve taken something on, you can’t simply put it down and walk away.”
Kojima also pointed out that 2026 marks his 40th anniversary of making games, having begun his professional career in 1986. Additionally, 2026 represents the 10th anniversary of Kojima Productions, the studio he founded after leaving Konami. At the latter, he ran an internal unit also called Kojima Productions.
Also in his post, Kojima said he wants to “remain focused on creating games,” even though he is receiving “various opportunities and offers” to do other things. He didn’t elaborate as to what these might be, but it was previously reported that Kojima was asked if he wanted to direct the Death Stranding movie before he opted to sit out and let Michael Sarnoski direct.
Kojima has a number of projects currently in the works, including the espionage game Physint and the horror game OD.
Kojima Productions seemingly updated Death Stranding 2’s night sky scene to honor Kojima’s birthday.
What’s more, Kojima’s staff got him a pretty boss cake–check it out below, along with a photo of Kojima and his friend Geoff Keighley.