Hideo Kojima compares COVID-19 to 9/11: “Fiction changes when something that big happens”

Hideo Kojima has compared the COVID-19 pandemic to the September 11 terrorist attacks, saying “fiction changes when something big happens”.

Speaking in a new interview, Kojima revealed that “a lot of plans are behind schedule” at his Kojima Productions “because of COVID”.

Talking to IGN, Kojima also revealed that there were plans to make a short film from a screenplay he’d written but because of complications caused by the pandemic, that’s been shelved for the time being

Kojima went on to say that the upcoming Death Stranding 2 has been “completely” re-written “from its themes, up”.

“It was the same with 9/11. Fiction changes when something that big happens,” explained Kojima. “When something takes place that nobody thought was possible, works of fiction written before it become less effective as entertainment.”

He went on to say that “while the games themselves are based on characters who are not bound by our reality, the players themselves have gone through the pandemic. You can’t pretend that something this big never happened.”

Kojima then said that “a story written before that experience just wouldn’t resonate with them in the same way.”

Earlier this year, French far-right politician Damien Rieu mistook Hideo Kojima for the suspected murderer of former Japanese president Shinzo Abe, with others calling out the “full racist delirium” of the mixup. 

Speaking about how much the world has changed recently, Kojima said: “Isolation and division are taking place as we speak. The world is changing so much, not just because of COVID, and we won’t be able to go back to how things were. I’ve been thinking about what kind of power entertainment has in that situation.”

“Entertainment can’t intervene in politics, nor can it be used as a weapon,” he continued. “The existence of entertainment can change the world, though, and I want to help put life into people by providing them with entertainment. That’s another way in which I can’t go back to my old view of the world, or the way I used to make my work.”

Death Stranding 2, the sequel to Kojima’s post-apocalyptic epic, was announced at The 2022 Game Awards earlier this month. The game, which doesn’t currently have a release date, will see the return of Norman Reedus as Sam Porter Bridges, Troy Baker as Higgs and Léa Seydoux as Fragile while Elle Fanning and Shioli Kutsuna join the cast.

In other news, Santa Monica Studio has confirmed that God Of War Ragnarok will receive a “New Game Plus” mode in 2023.