Hideo Kojima will receive 2020’s BAFTA Fellowship

Hideo Kojima will receive the BAFTA Fellowship at the BAFTA Games Awards on April 2, 2020.

The Metal Gear and Death Stranding designer is being recognised for his outstanding contribution to the games industry, BAFTA said on Thursday.

Previous recipients of the Fellowship—the highest accolade bestowed by BAFTA on an individual—include Tim Schafer, John Carmack, David Braben OBE, Rockstar Games, Gabe Newell, Peter Molyneux, Shigeru Miyamoto and Will Wright.

“Thank you very much for this precious BAFTA Fellowship award,” said Kojima. “I am very honored, and would like to take this moment to reflect on the many predecessors that came before me, as I deeply respect their contributions to entertainment, whether in movies, television, or games.

“I would also like to thank those who have supported me over the years and I will continue my commitment to creating new and innovative ways that will push the world of ‘play’ entertainment forward.”

Kojima started his career in 1986 at Konami, where he designed Metal Gear (1987) for the MSX2, laying the foundation for the stealth genre of video games.

He went on to spend more than 30 years at Konami, producing several acclaimed Metal Gear Solid games, as well as mech title Zone of the Enders, plus adventure games Snatcher (1988) and Policenauts (1994).

Kojima founded Kojima Productions in 2005, under the control of Konami. After splitting from Konami in 2015 he reformed Kojima Productions as an independent studio, backed by Sony Computer Entertainment.

The reformed company’s first game was 2019’s Death Stranding for PS4. A PC version will be released in summer 2020 on Steam and the Epic Games Store.

Kojima recently suggested his next game could be a horror title. The Metal Gear creator famously announced a horror game—Konami’s Silent Hills—once before, but that title was ultimately never released.

The nominations for the BAFTA Games Awards 2020 will be announced on March 3, 2020, ahead of April’s awards ceremony.

PS4 exclusive God of War was the big winner at the BAFTA Games Awards 2019, taking home five prizes at last year’s event including Best Game.