Konami Reportedly Rejects a Matrix Video Game, and Hideo Kojima Is As Surprised as We Are: 'There Could Have Been a Way to Make It Work'

metal gear solid and death stranding Developer Hideo Kojima says he was “surprised” when he learned that The Matrix creator wanted him to develop a game based on the series, insisting: “No one ever told me that such a conversation happened.”

Yesterday, IGN reported that the Wachowski sisters, who wrote and directed the “Matrix” movies, Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima was asked to design a Matrix video game, but publisher Konami reportedly turned it down. “The Wachowskis are huge fans of Hideo Kojima,” said Christopher Bergstresser, Konami's vice president of digital entertainment licensing. “So Kazumi Kitakami, Hideo Kojima, Aki Saito (who still works with Hideo Kojima) and I were at Konami headquarters, and we got a call from the Wachowskis, and they wanted to come in and meet with Hideo Kojima. So that’s what they did!

“The two of them came in with their concept artist, and they actually said to Kojima, 'We really want you to make a Matrix game. Can you do it?' Aki translated that into Japanese to Mr. Kitakami, who just looked at them and told them flatly, 'No.' “However, we still enjoyed the Japanese premiere of The Matrix and the after-party.”

However, Hideo Kojima said in a message posted in English on social media that while he and the Wachowskis were “mutual fans and exchanged emails,” he had no idea they wanted him to adapt the film for a game and that “there might be a way to make it work,” despite promising Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty.

I was surprised to see on social media that the Wachowskis “offered me a Matrix game project!” back in 1999. In 26 years, no one has ever told me that this conversation happened. At the time, we were mutual fans and exchanged emails. The Matrix didn’t… pic.twitter.com/4P10P9eEfT

— HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) October 29, 2025

“I was surprised to see on social media that the Wachowskis 'Offer me a Matrix game project!' back in 1999,” he wrote. “In 26 years, no one has ever told me that this conversation happened. At the time, we were mutual fans and exchanged emails. The Matrix has not yet been released in Japan, but I have seen it in theaters and previews in the United States.

“When the Wachowskis came to Japan to promote, I think I met them three times. In the morning, we had an interview with Famitsu in Shinjuku, when Geof Darrow joined us for the conversation. In the afternoon, they were invited to the headquarters of Konami's CS division. At the time, I was the vice president of KCE Japan, a wholly-owned subsidiary. When I arrived at the headquarters, they had just finished their meeting with Mr. Kitakami, the head of the CS division.

“I joined them later and we talked for about an hour without an interpreter (Aki wasn't even there),” he added. “I think the visual effects supervisor, John Gaeta, was there. I went to the premiere screening and party that night, where I also met Joel Silver. Even then, there was no mention of an offer.

“I was already very busy with Metal Gear Solid 2 and probably wouldn't be able to accept the offer right away. But if someone told me, maybe there would be a way to make it work.”

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