Seems like a fair bit gets lost in translation with Kojima, and that he's in need of better English marketing/PR translators, unless of course he's writing them himself.
Some choice quotes.
More in the article.
Hideo Kojima's Controversial Tweets Are Different In Japanese
Some choice quotes.
But the original Japanese tweet was different...Kojima doesn't write that he became independent. Instead, the original tweet was more matter of fact. "The company was established on December 16, 2015," it reads. He goes to write that he didn't have a proper office, but a small temporary one. "There was no staff, no office, no equipment, nothing. I only had a Kojima Productions logo, a notepad and a pen, and my own computer. While coming up with the project plan, I recruited staff and looked for an office and a game engine. But I wasn't at zero, because the only things I did have were a dream and connections." Kojima didn't say he was going independent, but rather, setting up the company. He acknowledged that he has connections. Of course he does, he's Hideo Kojima!
In other Japanese tweets, he has referred to Kojima Productions as "the newly established, reborn Kojima Productions" (新しく立ち上げた新生コジマプロダクション) and Death Stranding as "the first work I've made since going independent" (独立して初めての作品). The verb dokuritsu suru (独立する) means "to go independent" or "to strike out on one's own." It's a neutral verb and doesn't have the same nuance that the phrase "going indie" would in English.
Yet, the above English language tweet makes it seem like Kojima is doing everything, precisely because that's what the tweet says. The original Japanese tweet does not, however.
The Japanese original tweet explains that "A Hideo Kojima Game" is a statement that he is "involved" (関わる or kakawaru) with all these different facets, not that he is doing them all himself. He is not discounting the work of others.
More in the article.
Hideo Kojima's Controversial Tweets Are Different In Japanese