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Former Konami president Shinji Hirano is now president of Kojima Productions

Shinji Hirano

Formerly a key figure at Konami, Shinji Hirano now works for Kojima Productions, after taking on the role of president at the company in November 2016. 

There’s still stuff coming from both Konami and Kojima Productions in the future, so check our upcoming PC games list to keep an eye out.

Hirano worked at Konami as president for almost a decade, though he transferred to division director of Konami’s sales division in December 2011. He left that role in March this year and his LinkedIn page shows that everything was quiet until November, when he joined Kojima Productions.

His new job summary says he is “Responsible for managing extremely talented creative teams as one single entity and providing the leadership to make company successful as one of the greatest creative studios in the world.” Previously Hirano was a key spokesperson at Konami, to the point where he even hosted their E3 conferences.

Of course, Hirano isn’t the only one to make the jump across with Hideo Kojima. Ken-ichiro Imaizumi, a producer at Konami, also made the move when the company was formed, along with concept artist Yoji Shinkawa, and Kojima’s personal assistant, Ayako Terashima.

There’s also Jackie Tan, lead level designer for Metal Gear Solid V and the person in charge of the stealth game’s trailers. He is now listed as a game designer at the new Kojima Productions, and has been since January 2016, with a “coming soon” tease showing off the current Kojima Productions logo on his LinkedIn page.

Konami Productions’ first project will be Death Stranding, a game we’ve only so far seen bizarre, star-studded trailers of. Meanwhile, Konami are working on Metal Gear Survive, a co-op zombie game set within Kojima’s military universe.

Thanks, The Koalition.