Hideo Kojima (小島 秀夫, Kojima Hideo, born August 24, 1963) is a Japanese video game designer, director, producer and writer.
Regarded as an auteur of video games, he developed a strong passion for action/adventure cinema and literature during his childhood and adolescence. In 1986, he was hired by Konami, for which he designed and wrote Metal Gear (1987) for the MSX2, a game that laid the foundations for stealth games and the Metal Gear series, his best known and most appreciated works. The title that consecrated him as one of the most acclaimed video game designers is Metal Gear Solid (1998) for PlayStation. He is also known for producing the Zone of the Enders series, as well as writing and designing Snatcher (1988) and Policenauts (1994), graphic adventure games regarded for their cinematic presentation.
In 2005, Kojima founded Kojima Productions, a software house controlled by Konami, and by 2011, he was appointed vice president of Konami Digital Entertainment.