Konami has finally officially opened Kojima Productions Los Angeles. With plans to house over a hundred employees, the West Coast studio will be working on "a variety of games," including Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes, Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain, and Metal Gear Online.

"Since Los Angeles is ground zero for the best studios, facilities and world-class talent, we are leaning on of these local resources to build an incredible team to create gaming experiences that are just as compelling as any film or television show,” Hideo Kojima said in a prepared statement.

Speaking further with us, Kojima explained that he has always wanted to live in LA ever since he was a child, citing the lure of Hollywood as a reason. "The reason why we decided to open the studio in LA is because everything is top-notch here," Kojima said, speaking through a translator. He also pointed out that the LA part of the company is not a separation division. "It's not because we wanted to branch out our franchise, nor because we wanted an advantage in the localization process," he said. "My intention was to actually have both studios combined together as a whole to form Kojima Productions."

Being based in Los Angeles will also help the studio work with Hollywood talent--not only for motion capture work with the upcoming games, but for the upcoming movie adaptation as well.