Video game studio is told it doesn’t have to close, but decides to make worker safety its priority.

Video game creator Hideo Kojima is best known for his love of complex military/political narratives and outright weirdness. He’s also directed multiple games, though, in which fictional diseases play a major role, such as the first and fifth Metal Gear Solid games and space detective story Policenauts.

Unfortunately, Kojima’s company, Kojima Productions, now finds itself hit by the world’s current real-life plague. On Monday, the Tokyo-based company issued a press release announcing that one of its employees has been infected with the coronavirus.

The unnamed employee is a man in his 40s. Fortunately, the last time he was in the office was on March 20, before he began exhibiting symptoms such as a fever and coughing. Because of that, Kojima Productions was told by health authorities that they would not be required to close its offices, given the man’s lack of contact with his coworkers since the start of his infection.

However, Kojima Productions is deciding to err on the side of caution, and has announced that it will be voluntarily closing its offices indefinitely and disinfecting the facility. All employees will be allowed to work from home during the closure.

“We will continue to make the health and safety of our employees and the people we deal with our highest priority,” says the statement, “while coordinating with health authorities to take necessary measures to guard against the spread of infection.”

It’s a kindhearted gesture from a company that employs some of the top talent in the industry, and one headed by a guy who’s able to remember that there’s more to life than games.

Source: Kojima Productions via Hachima Kiko

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