Ken-Ichiro Imaizumi, a founding member of Death Stranding developer Kojima Productions, has left the company and has joined Tencent, it has been revealed. Imaizumi had worked with Hideo Kojima for nearly 20 years before this, as he had also been a producer on the Metal Gear Solid series since Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty which released in 2001.
A report by Video Games Chronicle reveals that Imaizumi is now part of Tencent Europe, the Amsterdam-based arm of Chinese conglomerate Tencent. Imaizumi left Kojima Productions in November 2019 and so this is not an immediate hire for Tencent Europe.
It’s unclear what Imaizumi’s role is at the company but the former Kojima Productions director does have a previous connection to Amsterdam. Death Stranding uses the Decima Engine which was created by Guerrilla Games, the Amsterdam-based developer of Horizon Zero Dawn. The Kojima Productions team toured Guerrilla Games and 14 other developers before deciding to use Decima.
Tencent has been steadily growing its portfolio of gaming investments and investments in European partnerships over the last year. The company, which owns League of Legends developer Riot Games and has had a minority stake in Fortnite developer Epic Games since 2012, invested in Yager, the German developer of Spec Ops: The Line, in February 2012.
Before this, Tencent invested in Nier: Automata and Vanquish developer PlatinumGames. While the exact investment figure was not disclosed, it is substantial enough that PlatinumGames suggested that it would be able to start self-publishing its titles, allowing it to no longer rely on publisher support.
Last year, Tencent also opened the first WeChat Pay Smart Airport in Europe when it partnered with Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. The airport is the third busiest in the world and so allowing Chinese tourists to pay for goods at the airport with WeChat Pay is no small thing. It shows that Tencent sees Europe, and The Netherlands specifically, as incredibly fertile ground for investment.
The effects, if any, of Imaizumi’s departure may not be seen in Kojima Productions’ games for quite some time. The developer is planning to release Death Stranding on PC in July, but it’s next game hasn’t been officially announced. Kojima has said that he would like to develop a horror game but the developer hasn’t confirmed that this is what the team is now working on.
Death Stranding is available now on PS4, with a PC version set to launch on July 14.
Source: Video Games Chronicle (1), (2)
