Konami chose the blue pill.
A distinctly rough charm, memorable character designs and convoluted meta-narratives: The works by video game director Hideo Kojima and those by film directors Lana and Lilly Wachowski have a lot in common, which is why it may not be surprising to learn that the recognized veterans of their respective industries have quite a fondness for each other's work.
Accordingly, when the time came to make a video game adaptation of the Wachowski's The Matrix (1999), Hideo Kojima's team at Konami seemed perfectly poised to carry out development – something which, although widely speculated about in the industry, never came to be. Only recent revelations may finally give us insight into why things went the way they did:
Bergstresser's and Kojima's Statements
On October 28, 2025, Jack Yarwood of entertainment magazine Time Extension published an article claiming that, while interviewing industry veteran Christopher Bergstresser about a project he was working on for Sega around the early 2000s, the latter also revealed the following about his tenure as vice president of licensing at Konami Digital Entertainment:
Apparently, the Wachowskis personally visited Konami's Tokyo headquarters to meet with Hideo Kojima about developing a game based on their film. Present at the meeting were the Wachowskis, with their visual effects collaborator, along with Hideo Kojima, Aki Saito, Bergstresser himself and Konami executive Kazumi Kitaue. However, the latter, after hearing the proposal translated by Saito, immediately declined on the spot.
The decision was speculated to be motivated by Konami wishing that Kojima remained focused on the lucrative Metal Gear Solid games. Kojima responded publicly to the article, stating that he had never been informed of any formal offer at the time and only learned of the proposal through these reports, though he did meet the Wachowskis during The Matrix' Japanese premiere. He expressed that, had he known, he might have found a way to make the project work.
I was surprised to see on social media that the Wachowski sisters had "offered me a Matrix game project!" back in 1999. 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... pic.twitter.com/4P10P9eEfT
— HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) October 29, 2025
The Matrix Game We Eventually Got
As such, the Wachowskis eventually had to look for alternatives, reaching out to smaller development studios like David Perry's Shiny Entertainment. Perry initially declined the offer, considering the movie "just another hacker flick", but after it released and became into a massive success, they jumped on the opportunity to develop a tie-in to its sequel The Matrix Reloaded (2003), with the game envisioned to serve as a full narrative expansion of its universe.
Both filmmakers and developers invested heavily in the project; sharing assets, concept art and production resources. However, development quickly became troubled: Shiny Entertainment had little experience producing innovative multi-platform games of this scope, they were purchased by Infogrames, Inc. mid-development and Warner Bros. imposed a tight two-year deadline, all culminating in the team suffering from unsustainably stressful working conditions.
Despite the enthusiasm of everyone involved, its $20 million budget and access to Hollywood-level tools, Enter the Matrix (2003) felt unfinished upon release. Its remarkable cinematic ambitions were undermined by clumsy controls, numerous bugs and glitches as well as unrefined gameplay concepts. Despite its overwhelmingly negative reception, it sold over 5 million copies, paving the way for a more refined sequel with The Matrix: Path of Neo (2005).
But what do you think? Would a Kojima-led Matrix game have had more potential than the Shiny Entertainment product we got in the end? Or would it have suffered from him having divide his attention between it and Metal Gear Solid? Let us know in the comments below!