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Hideo Kojima to headline new GDC Festival of Gaming
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Brian Crecente
“Hideo Kojima is one of the most influential creative voices of our time; his work has shaped how the world experiences games,” said Nina Brown, President of GDC. “Having Kojima-san headline the GDC Festival of Gaming sets the perfect tone for what this new era is all about: fearless creativity, bold ideas, and elevating the entire game-making ecosystem. His journey embodies the spirit of reinvention that so many in the industry are navigating right now.”
The talk is a return to GDC’s history of having big keynote presentations at each show. The last time the convention had one was five years ago. The return of the keynote, organizers say, is to signal the annual event’s transformation into the GDC Festival of Gaming.
The keynote will take place on the morning of March 12 and will include Kojima’s insights into building a studio, developing projects, establishing a brand, and connecting with fans.
“From early creative concept development to finding a physical office space to work from and finding world-class talent to occupy that space, Hideo Kojima will share his journey, the pitfalls, and the creative fulfillment of starting all over again,” according to the press release announcing the talk.
Kojima, perhaps best known for his Metal Gear franchise, received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Game Developers Choice Awards in 2009 in recognition of his work pioneering the stealth genre and furthering in-game narrative. He was granted a BAFTA Fellowship in 2020, the highest accolade bestowed by BAFTA upon an individual in recognition of exceptional contribution to film, games, or television.
Back in December 2015, Kojima announced that he would be starting an independent studio and developing a new franchise for the PlayStation 4. Death Standing was released in 2019 to numerous accolades. Death Stranding 2: On the Beach hit earlier this year to overwhelmingly positive reviews and numerous award nominations.
Kojima is currently working on OD, in partnership with Xbox Game Studios, as well as a film adaptation of Death Stranding with A24, and the original action-espionage game PHYSINT.
GDC Festival of Gaming runs from March 9 to March 13 in San Francisco. It features immersive experiences inside the Festival Hall, a nightly lineup of community-driven events with GDC Nights, and a new executive-level content program, the Luminaries Speaker Series.