By Emily Gera,
Sunday May 17, 2020 16:58 GMT
Ken-Ichiro Imaizumi, former founding member of Kojima Productions, joined Tencent Europe.
Imaizumi left Kojima Productions last year after nearly 20 years with the company and recently worked as a company director to oversee the production of Death Stranding, VGC reports.
He will now work from Tencent's operations base in Amsterdam. The European branch of the business aims to identify investment opportunities in the region, as well as to expand its WeChat messaging service.
Imaizumi was a founding member of Kojima Productions, which became independent when Kojima was fired by publisher Konami after the release of Metal Gear Solid V: Phantom Pain. He had previously worked on all Metal Gear Solid titles since Sons of Liberty in 2001, and most recently was a producer on Guns of the Patriots, The Phantom Pain and Metal Gear Rising.
The reason for his departure at the time is still unclear, although, as noted at the time, a source claimed that this was due to disagreement with the other directors of Kojima Productions . Imaizumi was absent during the Death Stranding press tour.
Death Stranding was launched in 2019 on PS4 and has received many reviews – some loved it, others less impressed. VG247 describes the game as "incredibly beautiful and boring". You can read our review here.