Original subtitles

[waves crashing]

[♪ pensive music playing]

[host 1] Please join me in welcoming...

- [host 2] Mr. Hideo Kojima. - [host 3] Hideo Kojima.

[host 3] One of the most creative talents in the history of gaming.

[applause]

Fantastic.

[♪ pensive music playing]

In the space of gaming, he is the master.

- Absolutely love your work. - Thank you.

[Del Toro] You can tell it's a Hideo Kojima game

even if that credit wasn't there.

No way.

[Keighley] Video games are the biggest, most powerful form

of entertainment in the world

and the numbers clearly show that

more than three billion people on the planet play video games.

[crowd cheering]

And Hideo really is probably the most well-known game creator

in the world.

It's kind of like stepping into Willy Wonka's chocolate factory

with Willy Wonka, you know?

[Reedus] You just kind of go along for the ride.

[♪ pensive music playing]

[Refn] I think that it's the obligation of any artist

to push the boundaries of their canvas.

[♪ tense music playing]

[♪ tense music playing]

- [indistinct chatter] - [laughter]

[Miller] I'm really interested in how people think creatively,

no matter what the discipline.

Any form of artistry, the process is the same almost always.

And that is an interplay between the intellect and the intuition.

[♪ uplifting music playing]

[video game designer] He's fighting all the time.

I don't know with whom.

Maybe himself.

[♪ pensive music playing]

[♪ pensive music playing]

[indistinct chatter]

[indistinct chatter]

[laughter]

The story from back in the day was that

Hideo wanted to go and pitch a game

but he didn't want to tell anyone what it was.

He really wanted someone to sign up for the game

without hearing what the game was.

And everyone in the Western world was like, "You're crazy."

We know you're Hideo Kojima

but we're not going to sign up your game until we know what you're making.

[Keighley] And Sony, as far as I know, basically said,

"We're going to bet on you, Hideo Kojima, as a creator."

We don't even need to know what the game is.

We're just in.

[♪ pensive music playing]

[indistinct chatter]

[laughter]

[indistinct chatter]

[indistinct chatter]

[indistinct chatter]

[indistinct chatter]

[chuckles]

[♪ tense music playing]

[people clamoring]

[objects clatter]

[helicopter whirring]

[♪ tense music playing]

He is not someone that just sort of rinses and repeats.

He really tries to, to reinvent how the game is played.

But overarching all that is this view

that he wants to communicate something to the player.

He really has a message that he wants to deliver in every game

that he hopes translates to the player.

[Keighley] Like every game he makes, there's a reason behind making the game.

[Sam] Hello!

[echoing voice] Hey you!

[Sam] I'm Sam.

[echoing voice] Hey, my name is Sam too!

- [chimes] - [grunts]

[Sam] Thanks for the help.

The people she left behind have been hard at work,

setting up Chiral network terminals.

But these terminals are still isolated.

[Die-Hardman] We need you to bring them online.

[indistinct chatter]

[♪ ominous music playing]

[♪ tense music playing]

[♪ tense music playing]

[overlapping chatter]

[beeping]

[laughs]

[♪ pensive music playing]

[laughter]

[keyboard clacking]

I don't know, like, new franchises right now.

I think that it's both, it's really brave and it's really hard.

[Grimes] They're mostly making, like, weird remakes and stuff.

It's, like, really hard to get funding for, like, new work in the modern era.

When you balance the commerciality expectation

of hundreds of millions of dollars in investment.

At the same time, wanting to stay true not just to your vision,

but to your whole idea of what gaming is.

That's like playing Russian roulette with six bullets.

[indistinct chatter]

[background chatter]

[chuckles]

[♪ slow upbeat music playing]

[♪ slow upbeat music playing]

[laughter]

[indistinct chatter]

[overlapping chatter]

[trilling]

[indistinct chatter]

[Miller] In the collaborative arts or virtually all arts,

there's usually one voice ultimately.

[indistinct chatter]

The person who is that driving force has to do one very important thing

and that is create the strategies with which everybody else can work.

[indistinct chatter]

There's a kind of a Darwinian battle that goes on in your mind,

and the strongest ideas survive.

They keep coming back to you they won't let you go

until you become a little bit obsessed with them.

[Miller] And you go from a very divergent, broad view of the work,

and you bounce down into a very, very highly focused,

granular level of the work.

And it's bouncing between the two.

[Miller] The extent that they can articulate that

and convey it to the others and inspire others working with them.

Then the work will be a comprehensive whole.

Being across every single aspect is incredible to me,

like, that's, that takes something that I don't have.

Very, very special.

I don't know when he sleeps.

I don't know if and when Hideo ever sleeps.

[laughs]

[♪ light music playing]

[chuckles]

[Del Toro] People may be in charge of processing the call or engine

and character construction, rigging, whatever.

But the only person in charge of the orchestra

conducting for the emotion and the result is the auteur.

[♪ thrilling music playing]

[♪ uplifting music playing]

[♪ uplifting music playing]

[background chatter]

So the part that we're doing today is Sam reaches west.

I first heard of Hideo through Guillermo del Toro.

So Guillermo called me and said, "Hey, there's this guy.

He's going to call you. Just say, 'Yes'."

And I was like, "What are you talking about?"

And he's like, "Just whatever he says, say 'Yes'."

[indistinct chatter]

[Baker] I knew that we were going to be stepping

into a big world with big characters.

Giving us a package to say to them, like, "Hey, this package is from Fragile."

And so many times, I had to stop and go, "Hold on a second, hold on a second."

"So, what you're saying is..."

and it would be whether it's about the story, about the character,

about the breadth and immensity of the design, um...

how it was going to relate to the player

and how those players were going to relate to each other.

The story and the experiences just kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger.

[Reedus] There's so many moments that I've had with him where I'm like, "What?

Like, what are you talking about?"

And then at some point, she's kind of warped in front of you, okay?

Like, being, like...

[Baker] Makes sense now, man.

[Reedus] Make so much sense.

It was confusing for a lot of us

because the story is so intricate and it's so deep.

It was very confusing but what was done in such a great way is,

I was felt like I was sort of drip-fed,

whatever my brain could handle at that moment in time.

[Jenkins] Captain,

I need you to hand him over.

[actor] Shoot him, John.

Let him go.

Please.

Shoot him!

I gave you an order. Shoot him.

- Guys on Monday... - I wanna, bye.

[Baker] Trust in this medium is key.

It is the bedrock foundation for many reasons.

Number one, everything is in an abstraction.

Everything is vague.

- [director 1] Good, Mark. Take three. - [Mark] All right.

[Baker] There's just four white walls with a bunch of cameras.

Right, we're all set.

Ready? Action.

Oh, Sam Bridges.

[Baker] So trust is at the root of it all.

So...

Fragile...

[Higgs] Like the world and everything in it.

Me? I'm...

I'm no exception.

[Baker] Let's not forget little old you.

[Reedus groaning]

I know it ain't easy wearing a mask all the time.

[Higgs] But now the mask can come off, right?

[panting]

[Reedus] The more he would tell me, the more I would understand.

And you have to understand, I started making this game

not knowing anything about what anybody's talking about.

So as the trust got deeper and stronger,

the storyline got more revealed to me in a way that I could understand it.

And I knew we were doing something really special. You know?

We want the player, same flashback...

[Mikkelsen] Every time we think we have an idea of what this is about,

it's just another layer and another layer.

Except me. I see you, and I talk to you.

And I tell you that you must...

[Reedus] Just point me, just tell me...

Yeah.

- [laughter] - And I'm like...

When you throw that away and lose your fear,

all of a sudden, there's a certain freedom in working like this.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

You can just look at him and look at what he's creating over there in the corner.

You say, "You know what? I think I'm in good hands."

Let's just do it.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

[indistinct chatter]

Stay back.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

[interpreter translates in French]

[Seydoux] It's, uh, complex and very deep.

It's almost a political statement.

Okay.

Okay, rolling.

[director 2] You ready, Fragile?

[Seydoux] Ready.

Sam.

- I see him. - Mm.

[assistant 2] And just make that "Sam"

a little quicker. It's like, "There he is."

[Seydoux] Okay.

You love her, right?

You love her.

There it is.

- [blasts] - [panting]

We're pulling out.

We're pulling out.

Secure the area.

[director 3] Okay, cut there.

Okay, back down at that original volume for open fire.

- Everybody ready? - Got you. Yes.

Okay, here we go. Rolling when you are ready, sir.

[Mikkelsen] Open fire.

Open fire.

Open fire.

[Mikkelsen] It feels quite open.

And he's very pleased, obviously,

because whatever we do, that's not the end result.

He just, he needs us to do the base.

[Mikkelsen] Disengage!

Time to go, boys.

[Mikkelsen] And the more we can give him real emotions or whatever in that base,

the happier he gets.

Don't let me down, boys.

[Mikkelsen] He's famous for being a storyteller in his games.

It's mayhem with the assassin's war.

But there's a certain beauty, a certain poetry to the entire image.

And I think that's also one of the keys to why his games are so incredibly popular

because they have both sides of the coin.

[breathing heavily]

[♪ dramatic music playing]

- [gunshots] - [groaning]

It was interesting because it's a world that I didn't know,

the world of video games.

Okay, same kind of thing here, right?

He brings you something you've always... you've been waiting for.

How did you get this?

I don't know what to say, except thanks.

[Seydoux] It's also a way video games... it's a way of reaching people.

Except thanks.

- I was thinking playing before back. - [assistant] Yeah.

I think it should be... it should be in a smile, no?

[director 3] Yeah, it should have a smile on it.

And, "How did you get this?" is like,

you've been trying for weeks and weeks to get this

and here he strolls up and gives it to you, you know.

[Seydoux] Okay.

How did you get this?

I don't know what to say, except thanks.

Good, good. Good, good, good.

[Seydoux] Thank you.

[director 3] I think we got it, thumbs up.

- Okay. - Okay.

- [director 3] Good. - [applauding]

[director 3] That's a wrap. You can come on out.

[♪ suspenseful music playing]

[♪ suspenseful music playing]

[Refn] Being original is hard.

So most rely on an algorithm,

which is the enemy of creativity.

And I see Hideo as the enemy of the algorithm.

What I think is unique, is his sense of pacing,

his sense of drama.

I admire it.

It can go in detours

that the Western discipline of storytelling would not go to,

and therefore, it makes it very impactful.

[sloshing]

[baby cooing]

[sloshing]

I think Hideo Kojima is a very strange man.

I think he likes,

he likes to tell stories in a way that is bizarre.

That is not usual.

[Grimes] It's in the uncanny valley between, like, comedy

and, like, extreme earnestness.

Like, I just really can't tell if it's a joke or not.

I'm just like, is he freaking serious right now?

Like, is this real?

And it's, like, profoundly funny, but also, like, deeply sad.

[background chatter]

[Hulst] Before Hideo Kojima made Metal Gear,

everything was about engaging, about combat.

He turned it around and it was now about avoiding combat.

It was about hide and seek, and stealth gameplay became a thing.

[♪ ominous music playing]

[planes rumbling]

It was a thoughtful approach to playing games

and that really burst, you know, the stealth genre

which today is still used in so many games.

[♪ mysterious music playing]

[helicopter whirring]

[waves crashing]

[birds chirping]

[♪ eerie music playing]

[♪ eerie music playing]

[zooming]

[♪ epic music playing]

[Woodkid] I think one of the big qualities of his work

is that it references other forms of art constantly.

It's not video games that talk about video games.

[faint laughter]

[laughs]

[♪ tense music playing]

[♪ light music playing]

[chuckles]

[birds chirping]

BOOKSTORE, HOUSEWIFE'S FRIEND

[background chatter]

[blasting]

[growling]

[♪ calm music playing]

[♪ calm music playing]

[applause]

[applause]

[Keighley] Welcome to Countdown to Death Stranding.

We are here in New York City.

The World Strand Tour has touched down here

for an incredible experience

and I'm honored to be joined by Hideo Kojima

on the day that Death Stranding is launching around the world.

[Keighley] I remember there was a lot of tension when, you know,

during the development of the game, because everyone kept saying, well,

"Where are the guns? Where's the fights?"

And Hideo is like, "No. It's about something different.

It's about just walking and experiencing this world."

And that's such a challenging idea.

[audience cheering]

[Woodkid] You can't give the audience what they want all the time.

You also have to make them understand

that sometimes they want something they don't know.

[audience cheering]

[Miller] The risk is that people just don't accept it.

It's too radical in some way.

But of course, the upside is that you change,

the medium that you're working in and that's why

his work is so important.

[crowd cheering]

Outside of AAA games,

I think people often try and communicate on a deeper level in gaming

but that was the first time I'd ever seen a game of that scale

trying to go in a lot deeper than what games would usually attempt.

[Del Toro] When you play Death Stranding,

the dynamics are exactly the opposite of every other video game.

You are taught virtues that seem impossible in gaming.

Patience, empathy, solidarity.

It's the only game I've played where I thought I was a better person

at the end of the game ever.

[♪ epic music playing]

[Grimes] I just love when, like, really complex things are really popular,

because it makes me feel like,

mainstream audiences are, like, open to, like, weird experimental art.

[birds squawking]

And that's always, like,

I don't know, a thing that can give you faith in humanity, I suppose.

[♪ slow upbeat music]

[Del Toro] The function of art, and philosophy, and humanity is

if you want to call them something, is to enhance the human spirit.

That's the function.

And video gaming is an art.

At its best is an art.

That's where art has its meaning.

It's not meant to please you, necessarily.

It's meant to inspire you.

It's meant to provoke you.

[Refn] It's meant to entertain you.

Death Stranding has all those components in it.

It's all there, but it has so much more.

[Baker] Tentacles just went out

trying to find ways to connect with people.

And there was something that games could do

that no show, no movie could do.

Not as effectively.

It's one of the things that I love about this art form,

is that you and I could go in and look at a painting together

and we can have a conversation.

But there's a difference between you and I picking up a paintbrush together

and painting something together.

And that, to me, is what games allow us to do.

And that's especially what Death Stranding at that time allowed us to do.

When art is strong enough, it's prophetic.

This was a COVID game before COVID.

Uh, this was...

a game that I think responded to that shift

that the pandemic brought before it occurred.

[laughs]

[leaves rustling]

Uh...

[Miller] There's no cultural evolution, unless it is renewed.

That's the history of all creative.

It constantly has to be refreshed.

And that's where the creative courage comes in.

[♪ uplifting music playing]

[Refn] If we lose that singular vision, we lose part of our humanity.

And if you are 100 percent true to yourself as an artist,

then your heart and soul will always beat for the future.

[♪ uplifting music playing]

[Grimes] All games are sort of, like, distilling

the most interesting things around you

into a narrative and that's basically what storytelling is or movies are

or books are.

So it's interesting to see games kind of, like,

enter the pantheon of storytelling in this way.

[Miller] Games are stories.

The purpose of stories is to make meaning out of life.

It's fundamental to us.

It's the only way we can explain the world and our existence.

[♪ uplifting music playing]

[♪ enigmatic music playing, CHVRCHES "Death Stranding"]