Metal Gear Solid Wasn’t Sued Because Kojima Was Nice

It’s been said that a little kindness can go a long way, and in this case, it went a very long way. John Carpenter didn’t sue Metal Gear Solid for copyright infringement because Hideo Kojima was nice.

Kojima made it quite known that the protagonist of John Carpenter’s 1981 Escape From New York, Snake Plissken, directly had an influence on Solid Snake and the Metal Gear Solid series. His transparency, however, almost led to a court action against against him.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Carpenter said that CanalPlus, one of the rights holders of his film, took legal action against Luc Besson for Lockout which in their eyes was a direct ripoff of Escape From New York. CanalPlus also “wanted to also go after the video game Metal Gear Solid” but Carpenter said he knew Kojima and that “he’s a nice guy” so he told them not to do it.

After Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain and close to 30 years with Konami, Kojima is done with the publisher although Konami says that he’s still an employee and taking a long time off of work.

Source: polygon.com