A Hideo Kojima Game

2015Catchphrase / protest memeclassic

Also known as: #AHideoKojimaGame

A Hideo Kojima Game is a 2015 protest meme originating when Konami removed Hideo Kojima's directorial credit from Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, with fans flooding Steam reviews, tweets, and retail displays to reclaim the phrase.

"A Hideo Kojima Game" is a branding tagline that appeared on the box art and title screens of games directed by Hideo Kojima, most notably the Metal Gear Solid series. When publisher Konami stripped the credit from Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain in March 2015 amid a high-profile split with Kojima, fans turned the five words into a protest meme. The phrase flooded Steam reviews, trended on Twitter, and even got hand-written onto Australian retail displays by defiant store employees.

TL;DR

"A Hideo Kojima Game" is a branding tagline that appeared on the box art and title screens of games directed by Hideo Kojima, most notably the Metal Gear Solid series.

Overview

"A Hideo Kojima Game" originally functioned as an auteur credit, similar to how film directors stamp their names above their work. It appeared on loading screens, box covers, and title sequences across Kojima-directed titles from Metal Gear Solid onward. The five words were so closely tied to the franchise that removing them felt like erasing an artist's signature from their own painting.

The meme version took off when Konami tried to scrub the tagline from Metal Gear Solid V in 2015. Fans weaponized the phrase, repeating it everywhere Konami couldn't delete it: Steam comments, hashtags, review sections, and physical store shelves. What started as corporate branding became a fan-driven protest chant.

On March 19, 2015, users on Reddit and NeoGAF noticed that Konami had quietly removed Hideo Kojima from its executive officer list and scrubbed his branding from the company's Metal Gear Solid website4. The "A Hideo Kojima Game" tagline was gone from promotional images for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain and Ground Zeroes, along with the Kojima Productions logo2. Konami had also renamed Kojima Productions Los Angeles to "Konami Los Angeles Studio" and folded the studio's Twitter account into a generic Metal Gear feed1.

Multiple gaming outlets reported on the changes the same day. Eurogamer noted that Kojima no longer appeared on Konami's latest list of corporate officers, effective April 12. Konami issued a carefully worded statement: "Konami Digital Entertainment, including Mr. Kojima, will continue to develop and support Metal Gear products"1. A follow-up attributed the changes to a shift toward "a headquarters-controlled system"2.

Kojima himself stayed quiet. On March 16, the day the restructuring took effect, he had tweeted a photo of Metal Gear Solid V with the caption "heading off"1. An anonymous source told GameSpot that a power struggle had led to senior staff at Kojima Productions having their corporate communications and internet access restricted3.

On July 14, 2015, NeoGAF user Love Deterrence posted the final retail box art for Metal Gear Solid V, confirming Kojima's branding had been completely removed from the finished product5.

Origin & Background

Platform
NeoGAF / Reddit (discovery), Twitter / Steam (viral spread)
Key People
Hideo Kojima, Jasmin Lee
Date
2015
Year
2015

On March 19, 2015, users on Reddit and NeoGAF noticed that Konami had quietly removed Hideo Kojima from its executive officer list and scrubbed his branding from the company's Metal Gear Solid website. The "A Hideo Kojima Game" tagline was gone from promotional images for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain and Ground Zeroes, along with the Kojima Productions logo. Konami had also renamed Kojima Productions Los Angeles to "Konami Los Angeles Studio" and folded the studio's Twitter account into a generic Metal Gear feed.

Multiple gaming outlets reported on the changes the same day. Eurogamer noted that Kojima no longer appeared on Konami's latest list of corporate officers, effective April 1. Konami issued a carefully worded statement: "Konami Digital Entertainment, including Mr. Kojima, will continue to develop and support Metal Gear products". A follow-up attributed the changes to a shift toward "a headquarters-controlled system".

Kojima himself stayed quiet. On March 16, the day the restructuring took effect, he had tweeted a photo of Metal Gear Solid V with the caption "heading off". An anonymous source told GameSpot that a power struggle had led to senior staff at Kojima Productions having their corporate communications and internet access restricted.

On July 14, 2015, NeoGAF user Love Deterrence posted the final retail box art for Metal Gear Solid V, confirming Kojima's branding had been completely removed from the finished product.

How It Spread

The hashtag #AHideoKojimaGame launched on Twitter and Tumblr as fans rallied behind Kojima, spreading across 4chan and Steam discussion boards.

The most visible act of fan rebellion came on August 19, 2015. JB Hi-Fi, an Australian electronics retailer, began adding Kojima's credit to their Metal Gear Solid V store displays across the country. JB employee Jasmin Lee tweeted a photo from the Chatswood Westfield location with the caption "YER take that Konami," and Kojima himself retweeted it. The tweet picked up over 400 favorites and 350 retweets, and the story was covered by Kotaku, Polygon, IGN, and Metro. Kotaku noted it was not just one rogue store but shops throughout Australia joining the cause.

When Metal Gear Solid V launched on September 1, 2015, the protest moved to Steam reviews. Users inserted "A Hideo Kojima Game" into their write-ups regardless of whether they recommended the game or not. Some stuck the phrase at the end of earnest critiques. Others submitted reviews consisting of nothing but the tagline. Even negative reviews conceded the point: this was a Hideo Kojima game.

How to Use This Meme

The meme typically takes a few forms:

1

Protest attribution: Attach "A Hideo Kojima Game" to any mention of Metal Gear Solid V or Kojima titles where Konami stripped the credit. Sometimes applied to Konami products in general.

2

Ironic auteur credit: Label any random thing, from a home-cooked meal to a work spreadsheet, as "A Hideo Kojima Game" to mock self-important branding or to give something an air of dramatic weight.

3

Steam review tradition: Include the phrase in a game review regardless of the game being reviewed, as a callback to the 2015 protest reviews.

4

Image overlay: Photoshop the tagline onto box art, screenshots, or real-world photos where it clearly doesn't belong.

Cultural Impact

The Konami-Kojima split became one of 2015's biggest gaming industry stories and raised serious questions about creator credit in an industry where publishers typically own the IP. The meme gave ordinary fans a visible, participatory way to push back against a corporate decision.

The JB Hi-Fi campaign showed how internet sentiment could spill into physical retail spaces. When outlets like Polygon and IGN covered a store employee's tweet about handwritten signs, it blurred the line between grassroots fan protest and legitimate news. Metro called the controversy part of a broader pattern of Konami self-inflicted damage that included cancelling Silent Hills and pivoting to mobile games.

Kojima's departure and successful independent career gave the meme a triumphant arc. Death Stranding's 2019 release, proudly branded as a Kojima Productions title, read as vindication for the fans who had spent years insisting the five words mattered.

Full History

The branding that spawned the meme long predated the 2015 controversy. In 1998, players loading up Metal Gear Solid on PlayStation saw the words "A Hideo Kojima Game" flash across the screen just before a submarine sped through the Bering Sea. The credit carried through every subsequent Kojima-directed Metal Gear title, becoming as recognizable as the franchise's exclamation point alert sound.

The March 2015 revelations hit the gaming community hard. PC Gamer's coverage captured the tension of the moment, noting it was "odd to remove the name of such a respected designer from packaging when he's such an integral part of Metal Gear's identity". At GamesRadar, Dan Dawkins argued the split might not be a bad thing, quoting Kojima's own reflection: "If I only had one year left, I think I'd like to stop exploring games and maybe make a movie, or write a book". The press debated endlessly whether this was genuinely the end or another one of Kojima's famous publicity stunts, given his well-documented history of misdirection.

The JB Hi-Fi campaign became the meme's most iconic real-world expression. These were not corporate-directed displays but acts of employee rebellion, with staff hand-writing "A Hideo Kojima Game" on promotional materials. Metro reported that the controversy was part of a wider "death spiral of bad publicity" for Konami, which had also cancelled Silent Hills and announced a "mobile first" future. IGN added an interesting detail: the removal of Kojima's name from the box art "may have been predicted by Kojima in a Ground Zeroes mission".

Kojima departed Konami and re-established Kojima Productions as an independent studio in December 2015. His first post-Konami game, Death Stranding, launched in November 2019 with Sony as publisher. The game's marketing proudly carried Kojima's name front and center.

In September 2019, Kojima took to Twitter to explain what the branding actually meant: "A HIDEO KOJIMA GAME means the declaration of me doing concept, produce, original story, script, setting, game design, casting, dealing, directing, difficulty adjustments, promoting, visual design, editing, supervising the merch". The tweet drew pushback from several industry figures. Journalist Jason Schreier quote-tweeted it sarcastically, writing "I just want to express my deepest gratitude for all the hard work and sacrifice put in by me, Hideo Kojima". Former Capcom producer JP Kellams criticized the "auteur" culture of Japanese game publishers, arguing "it should be about the game". Though Kojima's intent was to clarify the scope of his personal involvement, the backlash highlighted an ongoing tension about individual credit in collaborative game development.

Urban Dictionary, in characteristic fashion, defined the phrase as what happens "when a repressed film director fills his video game(s) with more cutscenes than gameplay".

Fun Facts

Kojima's cryptic "heading off" tweet was posted on March 16, 2015, the exact day Konami's corporate restructuring took effect.

IGN speculated that the removal of Kojima's name from the box art may have been foreshadowed by Kojima himself in a Ground Zeroes mission.

Kojima defines "A Hideo Kojima Game" as covering at least twelve distinct roles including concept, story, script, game design, casting, directing, and merchandise oversight.

In his 2021 book *The Creative Gene*, Kojima uses the word "memes" in its original Richard Dawkins sense of transmissible cultural ideas, not viral internet images.

The Kojima Productions website was redirected to Konami's Metal Gear portal site as part of the March 2015 restructuring.

Frequently Asked Questions

A Hideo Kojima Game

2015Catchphrase / protest memeclassic

Also known as: #AHideoKojimaGame

A Hideo Kojima Game is a 2015 protest meme originating when Konami removed Hideo Kojima's directorial credit from Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, with fans flooding Steam reviews, tweets, and retail displays to reclaim the phrase.

"A Hideo Kojima Game" is a branding tagline that appeared on the box art and title screens of games directed by Hideo Kojima, most notably the Metal Gear Solid series. When publisher Konami stripped the credit from Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain in March 2015 amid a high-profile split with Kojima, fans turned the five words into a protest meme. The phrase flooded Steam reviews, trended on Twitter, and even got hand-written onto Australian retail displays by defiant store employees.

TL;DR

"A Hideo Kojima Game" is a branding tagline that appeared on the box art and title screens of games directed by Hideo Kojima, most notably the Metal Gear Solid series.

Overview

"A Hideo Kojima Game" originally functioned as an auteur credit, similar to how film directors stamp their names above their work. It appeared on loading screens, box covers, and title sequences across Kojima-directed titles from Metal Gear Solid onward. The five words were so closely tied to the franchise that removing them felt like erasing an artist's signature from their own painting.

The meme version took off when Konami tried to scrub the tagline from Metal Gear Solid V in 2015. Fans weaponized the phrase, repeating it everywhere Konami couldn't delete it: Steam comments, hashtags, review sections, and physical store shelves. What started as corporate branding became a fan-driven protest chant.

On March 19, 2015, users on Reddit and NeoGAF noticed that Konami had quietly removed Hideo Kojima from its executive officer list and scrubbed his branding from the company's Metal Gear Solid website. The "A Hideo Kojima Game" tagline was gone from promotional images for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain and Ground Zeroes, along with the Kojima Productions logo. Konami had also renamed Kojima Productions Los Angeles to "Konami Los Angeles Studio" and folded the studio's Twitter account into a generic Metal Gear feed.

Multiple gaming outlets reported on the changes the same day. Eurogamer noted that Kojima no longer appeared on Konami's latest list of corporate officers, effective April 1. Konami issued a carefully worded statement: "Konami Digital Entertainment, including Mr. Kojima, will continue to develop and support Metal Gear products". A follow-up attributed the changes to a shift toward "a headquarters-controlled system".

Kojima himself stayed quiet. On March 16, the day the restructuring took effect, he had tweeted a photo of Metal Gear Solid V with the caption "heading off". An anonymous source told GameSpot that a power struggle had led to senior staff at Kojima Productions having their corporate communications and internet access restricted.

On July 14, 2015, NeoGAF user Love Deterrence posted the final retail box art for Metal Gear Solid V, confirming Kojima's branding had been completely removed from the finished product.

Origin & Background

Platform
NeoGAF / Reddit (discovery), Twitter / Steam (viral spread)
Key People
Hideo Kojima, Jasmin Lee
Date
2015
Year
2015

On March 19, 2015, users on Reddit and NeoGAF noticed that Konami had quietly removed Hideo Kojima from its executive officer list and scrubbed his branding from the company's Metal Gear Solid website. The "A Hideo Kojima Game" tagline was gone from promotional images for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain and Ground Zeroes, along with the Kojima Productions logo. Konami had also renamed Kojima Productions Los Angeles to "Konami Los Angeles Studio" and folded the studio's Twitter account into a generic Metal Gear feed.

Multiple gaming outlets reported on the changes the same day. Eurogamer noted that Kojima no longer appeared on Konami's latest list of corporate officers, effective April 1. Konami issued a carefully worded statement: "Konami Digital Entertainment, including Mr. Kojima, will continue to develop and support Metal Gear products". A follow-up attributed the changes to a shift toward "a headquarters-controlled system".

Kojima himself stayed quiet. On March 16, the day the restructuring took effect, he had tweeted a photo of Metal Gear Solid V with the caption "heading off". An anonymous source told GameSpot that a power struggle had led to senior staff at Kojima Productions having their corporate communications and internet access restricted.

On July 14, 2015, NeoGAF user Love Deterrence posted the final retail box art for Metal Gear Solid V, confirming Kojima's branding had been completely removed from the finished product.

How It Spread

The hashtag #AHideoKojimaGame launched on Twitter and Tumblr as fans rallied behind Kojima, spreading across 4chan and Steam discussion boards.

The most visible act of fan rebellion came on August 19, 2015. JB Hi-Fi, an Australian electronics retailer, began adding Kojima's credit to their Metal Gear Solid V store displays across the country. JB employee Jasmin Lee tweeted a photo from the Chatswood Westfield location with the caption "YER take that Konami," and Kojima himself retweeted it. The tweet picked up over 400 favorites and 350 retweets, and the story was covered by Kotaku, Polygon, IGN, and Metro. Kotaku noted it was not just one rogue store but shops throughout Australia joining the cause.

When Metal Gear Solid V launched on September 1, 2015, the protest moved to Steam reviews. Users inserted "A Hideo Kojima Game" into their write-ups regardless of whether they recommended the game or not. Some stuck the phrase at the end of earnest critiques. Others submitted reviews consisting of nothing but the tagline. Even negative reviews conceded the point: this was a Hideo Kojima game.

How to Use This Meme

The meme typically takes a few forms:

1

Protest attribution: Attach "A Hideo Kojima Game" to any mention of Metal Gear Solid V or Kojima titles where Konami stripped the credit. Sometimes applied to Konami products in general.

2

Ironic auteur credit: Label any random thing, from a home-cooked meal to a work spreadsheet, as "A Hideo Kojima Game" to mock self-important branding or to give something an air of dramatic weight.

3

Steam review tradition: Include the phrase in a game review regardless of the game being reviewed, as a callback to the 2015 protest reviews.

4

Image overlay: Photoshop the tagline onto box art, screenshots, or real-world photos where it clearly doesn't belong.

Cultural Impact

The Konami-Kojima split became one of 2015's biggest gaming industry stories and raised serious questions about creator credit in an industry where publishers typically own the IP. The meme gave ordinary fans a visible, participatory way to push back against a corporate decision.

The JB Hi-Fi campaign showed how internet sentiment could spill into physical retail spaces. When outlets like Polygon and IGN covered a store employee's tweet about handwritten signs, it blurred the line between grassroots fan protest and legitimate news. Metro called the controversy part of a broader pattern of Konami self-inflicted damage that included cancelling Silent Hills and pivoting to mobile games.

Kojima's departure and successful independent career gave the meme a triumphant arc. Death Stranding's 2019 release, proudly branded as a Kojima Productions title, read as vindication for the fans who had spent years insisting the five words mattered.

Full History

The branding that spawned the meme long predated the 2015 controversy. In 1998, players loading up Metal Gear Solid on PlayStation saw the words "A Hideo Kojima Game" flash across the screen just before a submarine sped through the Bering Sea. The credit carried through every subsequent Kojima-directed Metal Gear title, becoming as recognizable as the franchise's exclamation point alert sound.

The March 2015 revelations hit the gaming community hard. PC Gamer's coverage captured the tension of the moment, noting it was "odd to remove the name of such a respected designer from packaging when he's such an integral part of Metal Gear's identity". At GamesRadar, Dan Dawkins argued the split might not be a bad thing, quoting Kojima's own reflection: "If I only had one year left, I think I'd like to stop exploring games and maybe make a movie, or write a book". The press debated endlessly whether this was genuinely the end or another one of Kojima's famous publicity stunts, given his well-documented history of misdirection.

The JB Hi-Fi campaign became the meme's most iconic real-world expression. These were not corporate-directed displays but acts of employee rebellion, with staff hand-writing "A Hideo Kojima Game" on promotional materials. Metro reported that the controversy was part of a wider "death spiral of bad publicity" for Konami, which had also cancelled Silent Hills and announced a "mobile first" future. IGN added an interesting detail: the removal of Kojima's name from the box art "may have been predicted by Kojima in a Ground Zeroes mission".

Kojima departed Konami and re-established Kojima Productions as an independent studio in December 2015. His first post-Konami game, Death Stranding, launched in November 2019 with Sony as publisher. The game's marketing proudly carried Kojima's name front and center.

In September 2019, Kojima took to Twitter to explain what the branding actually meant: "A HIDEO KOJIMA GAME means the declaration of me doing concept, produce, original story, script, setting, game design, casting, dealing, directing, difficulty adjustments, promoting, visual design, editing, supervising the merch". The tweet drew pushback from several industry figures. Journalist Jason Schreier quote-tweeted it sarcastically, writing "I just want to express my deepest gratitude for all the hard work and sacrifice put in by me, Hideo Kojima". Former Capcom producer JP Kellams criticized the "auteur" culture of Japanese game publishers, arguing "it should be about the game". Though Kojima's intent was to clarify the scope of his personal involvement, the backlash highlighted an ongoing tension about individual credit in collaborative game development.

Urban Dictionary, in characteristic fashion, defined the phrase as what happens "when a repressed film director fills his video game(s) with more cutscenes than gameplay".

Fun Facts

Kojima's cryptic "heading off" tweet was posted on March 16, 2015, the exact day Konami's corporate restructuring took effect.

IGN speculated that the removal of Kojima's name from the box art may have been foreshadowed by Kojima himself in a Ground Zeroes mission.

Kojima defines "A Hideo Kojima Game" as covering at least twelve distinct roles including concept, story, script, game design, casting, directing, and merchandise oversight.

In his 2021 book *The Creative Gene*, Kojima uses the word "memes" in its original Richard Dawkins sense of transmissible cultural ideas, not viral internet images.

The Kojima Productions website was redirected to Konami's Metal Gear portal site as part of the March 2015 restructuring.

Frequently Asked Questions