Konami never told Kojima that the Wachowskis wanted him to make a Matrix game

History could have been very different if Konami had greenlit a Hideo Kojima-directed Matrix game.

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Decades ago during the PS2 era of the early 2000s, the Wachowski sisters expressed interest in having Hideo Kojima make a game based on the Matrix series, which was mega-hot at the time. This little tidbit of retro gaming lore was unearthed by nostalgia news blog Time Extension, which followed up on a 25-year-old rumor. In an interview with former Konami executive Christopher Bergstresser, it was revealed that the Wachowskis approached Konami about the idea, but it ultimately died on the vine.

The project was essentially nipped in the bud and shut down before it could even really be mulled over, with then-CEO of Konami Kasumi Kitaue scrapping the idea. Kojima was just too invaluable to the Metal Gear series (ironically, the opposite would be true some 15 years later).

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The news came back to Kojima, who explains decades later that he simply never heard about the Matrix game pitch. Word never got down to him, Kojima says, and that he "probably couldn't have accepted the offer right away" but thought he "could have made it work."

These kinds of history lessons are somewhat rare, so it's an interesting look at the annals of video games development during the early 2000s and how that crossed over into other forms of entertainment. Instead of Kojima's Matrix game, we got arguably the best Metal Gear Solid in history with MGS2: Sons of Liberty, as well as a separate Enter the Matrix game released on PS2 (I had this game, and it was passable but not amazing).

Here's what Kojima said about the Matrix game rumors:

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 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.

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