Hideo Kojima just found out that Konami turned down the chance to make a Matrix game 26 years ago: 'If someone had told me, maybe there could’ve been a way to make it work'

In a recent interview with Time Extension former Konami executive Christopher Bergstresser revealed that, way back in 1999, the company was approached by the Wachowskis with an offer to make a Matrix videogame. The Matrix was released in June 1999 and had quickly become a smash hit, with this meeting apparently taking place in the runup to the film's theatrical release in Japan in September 1999.

"The Wachowskis were big fans of Kojima," said Bergstresser. "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 visual effects guy, 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."

This came as news to Hideo Kojima despite his supposed presence in the room at the time. He recalls meeting the Wachowskis on multiple occasions, but was never aware such an offer was made. Kojima's own recollection of events varies slightly from that of Bergstresser, which is perhaps to be expected after nearly three decades.

"I was surprised to see on social media that the Wachowski sisters had 'offered me a Matrix game project!' back in 1999," said Kojima on X. "In all these 26 years, no one ever told me such a conversation had taken place. At the time, we were mutual fans and exchanged emails. The Matrix hadn’t been released in Japan yet, but I had already seen it in theaters in the U.S. and at a preview screening.

"When the Wachowskis came to Japan for promotion, I believe I met them three times. In the morning, we had a Famitsu interview in Shinjuku—that time, Geof Darrow joined us for the talk session. In the afternoon, they were invited to the headquarters of Konami’s CS Division. Back then, I was Vice President of KCE JAPAN, a wholly-owned subsidiary. When I arrived at the headquarters, their meeting with Mr. Kitaue, the head of the CS Division, had just ended.

"I joined them afterward, and we chatted for about an hour without an interpreter (Aki wasn’t even there). I think John Gaeta, the visual effects supervisor, was also present. That evening, I attended the premiere screening and party, where I also met Joel Silver. Even then, there was no mention of an offer."

Per Bergstresser, the Konami higher-up (Kitaue) turned down the offer because Kojima was roughly a year into development on Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, an enormous project in its own right. Kojima himself acknowledges this would have made things difficult, but you can tell he's still a little irked he never even knew about it.

"At that time, I was already extremely busy with MGS2 and probably couldn’t have accepted the offer right away," says Kojima. "But if someone had told me, maybe there could’ve been a way to make it work."

The meeting in fact turns up in Kojima's development diary for MGS2: on August 25th 1999 Kojima notes meeting the Wachowskis and Geof Darrow in Shinjuku, around The Matrix's Japanese premiere.

What's perhaps most intriguing about this scenario is the Wachowskis' ambitions for Matrix tie-in games, which they wanted to be a legitimate part of the cinematic world they were building. The license would eventually go to Shiny Entertainment, which first produced Enter the Matrix (2003), designed to intertwine with The Matrix Reloaded at key plot points, before the (much better) Path of Neo in 2005, which was built around retelling some of the setpiece battles and offered a wild alternative ending with a city-sized Agent Smith.

Given Kojima's obvious love for the series, which definitely influences elements of later Metal Gears, and his general cinematic obsession… well, it would've been interesting to see what he and Konami could've done with it. Sadly Konami chose the blue pill on his behalf, so we'll never find out how deep this rabbit hole could've gone.