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PC Gamer
PC Gamer
Joshua Wolens

Hideo Kojima relatably says job-hunting made him 'feel like I was a Showa-era detective trying to solve a murder,' and he almost became a no-name pharma guy but for some kind words from a HR person

Hideo Kojima at Featured Session Hideo Kojima Presents "DEATH STRANDING 2: ON THE BEACH" at Austin Convention Center on March 09, 2025 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Amy E. Price/SXSW Conference & Festivals via Getty Images).

Job hunting is miserable. In fact, perhaps the only thing keeping the motor of modern capitalism chugging is that it's marginally more miserable than working, and even games industry paragons have had to undergo the humiliating ritual of sifting through stacks of rejection letters from jobs they didn't really want in the first place. Like Hideo Kojima, for instance.

Kojima discussed his experience as a young upstart on the job market for An-an Web back in February, but the essay was just recently picked up and translated by the folks at Automaton. In it, the Metal Gear and Death Stranding creator says we all just narrowly avoided a world in which 'Hideo Kojima' was some guy no one knows working away quietly and tediously at a pharmaceutical company, and it's all thanks to the advice of a single HR person.

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