Direct quote 1996
“So yeah, I didn't include the subtitles so it would look more like a movie. As a director, there's lots of scenes where I'd rather not have subtitles, but in the end I will choose what makes players happy, of course.”
What it documents
Kojima said he added subtitles to Policenauts because, when the PC-98 version was released, he received a letter from a hearing-impaired player who said they had been able to enjoy games up to then but that with the arrival of CD-ROMs and recorded voice the games no longer included text and they were sad they could no longer play them; he clarified that he did not add subtitles to make it look more like a movie and that, as a director, there are many scenes where he would rather not have subtitles, but in the end he chooses what makes players happy.
Source
shmuplations.com; unofficial English translation of a 1996 Japanese interview preserved by the GSLA. View source ↗
"I've been able to enjoy games up to now," he said, "but now that CD-ROMs are here and games are using actual speech, they don't include text and I'm sad that I can no longer play them."