Kojima Productions

Former Konami Europe President Shinji Hirano Joins Kojima Productions

Not only is Hideo Kojima’s most beloved character awfully good at stealth, it looks like his company is too. Kojima Productions quietly hired former Konami Europe president Shinji Hirano to be the developer’s president last month. This was confirmed on Hirano’s Linkedin page, which also lists his past job history.

While this move came as a surprise, it shouldn’t be shocking that the company is making moves. This could very well be the first of many hirings for Kojima Productions in the near future as founder Hideo Kojima revealed that that production on the company’s first game, the PlayStation 4 exclusive Death Stranding, would “enter full swing” in 2017. That’s just days away at this point, so they are obviously ramping up at the moment.

Hirano had a long tenure at Konami, having worked in its various branches since July of 2005. He worked for Konami America for over 6 years, where he became that branch’s president and executive vice-president. He then went on to lead Konami’s European side from 2011 to 2015 until finally working at the pachinko maker’s headquarters in 2015 as the company’s sales division director and corporate officer. He left the company in March of 2016 bringing an end to the decade-long employment stretch.

Kojima Productions most recently was seen showing off Death Standing‘s second trailer at The Game Awards 2016. The trailer had several appearances by celebrities including Hannibal actor Mads Mikkelsen and Pan’s Labyrinth director Guillermo del Toro. The upcoming video game is expected to launch exclusively on PlayStation 4 in the future.

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