Konami Reportedly Shot Down Hideo Kojima Making a Matrix Game - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 28 October 2025 / 2,086 Views
The Wachowskis, the creators of The Matrix, reportedly asked Konami for Hideo Kojima to develop a video game based on the IP in the late 1990's, according to former vice president of licensing at Konami Digital Entertainment Christopher Bergstresser speaking with Time Extension.
The Matrix released in theaters in 1999 and became a huge success. There were suggestions back in the day that Konami's Metal Gear Solid team was among the studios in discussion to develop a Matrix game.
Bergstresser revealed Konami higher-up Kasumi Kitaue had shut down discussions almost instantly as he wanted Kojima to focus on the Metal Gear Solid series.
"The Wachowskis were big fans of Kojima," Bergstresser said. "So Kazumi Kitaue, Kojima, Aki Saito (who still works with Kojima), and I were at the Konami HQ, and we got a call from the Wachowskis, who wanted to come in and meet with Kojima. So they did!
"The two of them came in with their concept artist, and effectively they said to Kojima, ‘We really want you to do the Matrix game. Can you do that?’ Aki translated this into Japanese for Mr. Kitaue, and Kitaue just looked at them and told them plainly, ‘No’. We did still get to enjoy the Matrix Japanese premiere and afterparty, though."
In the end, a Matrix video game was developed by Shiny Entertainment and released in 2003 as Enter the Matrix.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can follow the author on Bluesky.
More Articles
Kojima’s output was very hectic during the early 2000s.
Metal Gear Solid 2 & 3 as director. Boktai as game designer.
Hands on producer with the two main Zone of the Enders games.
Producer credits on more Boktai and Metal Gear Solid/Ac!d.
Then Lunar Knights before MGS4 and Peace Walker before the end of the decade.
Very flattering that they came straight to Hideo Kojima, but feels like we may have gotten
the best out of him.
I'd love modern day Kojima to explore the franchise.
Looking at something like the Animatrix, The franchise is actually begging to have some newer video game interpretations
I'm seeing both the pros and cons of this. Kojima is the only one that could do this game justice. However, Konami has switched gears and doesn't like such a large amount of expenses for development. Anything Matrix related would have to be high-class, even more than Kojima's Metal Gear series, i'm afraid. Hopefully a newer game will come out for the fans.
