Hideo Kojima is known for questioning what games can be. Now, he is questioning who they are even for.
While more and more developers are using AI to create games, Hideo Kojima wants to create a game that is made exclusively for AI to play.
A Game Not For Players, But For AI
The creative mind behind the Metal Gear series and Death Stranding has a new idea for a video game. Hideo Kojima is known for his unconventional takes on gaming, and this time his concept goes in a very different direction. Instead of developing a game with the help of AI, he wants to create a game for AI to play.
Kojima shared this idea in an interview with the Japanese outlet Nikkei Xtrend. According to him, such a game could help artificial intelligence learn and develop further:
“At the moment, AI doesn’t know much, and I think it has to study more. It would be a game that is a teaching material for AI to study.”
The game, as Kojima imagines it, would be structured as an interactive experience designed specifically for AI to learn from. Currently, most AI systems rely on large language models that absorb vast amounts of information from the internet. Kojima’s idea suggests a different approach, one in which learning is not only based on data, but on interaction.
In that sense, Kojima is not just rethinking digital experiences for humans, but also imagining how virtual worlds could be designed for artificial intelligence in the future.
Why AI Has Become Such A Sensitive Topic In Gaming
The use of AI has sparked more than one controversy this year. In the past two months alone, several debates have emerged around different games incorporating AI in their development. Arc Raiders faced backlash for using generative AI for voice lines. Call of Duty Black Ops 7 was criticized as well for allegedly relying on AI-generated content. More recently, Larian Studios even made headlines after admitting that AI is used for very simple and minor tasks in its development process. Expedition 33, meanwhile, was disqualified from the Indie Awards because of small AI-related elements in the game.
These cases show how sensitive the topic has become within the gaming community. Even limited or non-creative uses of AI are often met with strong reactions, regardless of their actual impact on the final product. Against this backdrop, Kojima’s idea stands out. Rather than using AI as a shortcut in development, his proposal shifts the discussion entirely. The focus is not on replacing human work, but on treating AI as a subject within the game itself.
In that sense, Kojima’s concept does not add to the current controversies surrounding AI-generated content. Instead, it reframes the conversation and raises a different question: not how AI should be used to make games faster or cheaper, but how games themselves could be used to explore and understand artificial intelligence.
What do you think about Kojima's latest idea? Let us know in the comments!
