“Just like Tom Cruise said in Maverick, I could never work this hard if it was a job. It's more like a mission. I'm dedicating my life not to myself but to someone else. I'm creating for those who are waiting for me.”
Kojima said he became a creator because he liked making things —what he really wanted to be was an astronaut— and that as he began to create he gradually gained fans who told him they were waiting for his next work or were where they were thanks to his. Realizing there were people around the world who understood him changed the way he lived. At first he created for himself and because it was his job, but that changed and creation became a way of life. He compared himself to Tom Cruise in Maverick, saying he could never work so hard if it were just a job: it is more like a mission, he is dedicating his life not to himself but to others, and he creates for those who are waiting for him, which is how he can work so much.
“So I became a creator because I liked making stuff. Well, what I really wanted to be was an astronaut. […] And I realized that there were people all over the world who understood me, and that changed my way of living. […] Just like Tom Cruise said in Maverick, I could never work this hard if it was a job. It's more like a mission.”