The things that have publicly transpired between Game Developer Hideo Kojima and his former employer, Konami is going to go down as one of the strangest and most significant sagas in gaming history. From Kojima’s very public departure to being blocked from attending the 2015 Game Awards and reports of being “locked in a separate room” during Metal Gear Solid V’s development, there’s been no shortage of raised eyebrows.

Despite all that, Hideo Kojima remains grateful to Konami for everything, as his time there has shaped him into the person he is today. In speaking with Toyokeizai (via Kotaku), Kojima said: “What I’m grateful [to] Konami for is that when I proposed something I wanted to make, they let me make it.”

“Conversely, I wasn’t bound by them saying, ‘You need to do it like this,'” he continued.

Kojima also described the project pitch process to the higher ups at Konami saying that all he had to do was a submit a proposal, give estimates on a development timeline and numbers on the amount of staff needed and he would be approved. To be fair, Kojima also earned that kind of seniority with incredible success dating back to 1987 with the original Metal Gear.

Now, Hideo Kojima is hard at work on the much-anticipated Death Stranding with his new studio Kojima Productions. There’s still no word on a release date, but it is apparently so avant-garde that it can’t be explained.

Source: [Toyokeizai via Kotaku]