You expect game directors to be at their desk every day to write some code? What year is this, 1985?
Yeah, I expect that the majority of a Creative Director's week will be spent with the team reviewing their work and setting direction. I've been in game dev for 25 years. Not sure what experience you're drawing on.
Following Kojima's twitter
Not really.
In any case, I think the whole "he's constantly traveling" might be a little bit overblown
Breh, he's doing a "world tour" right now instead of patches/fixing things with his team. Him and Shinikawa.
Beyond that, he traveled to visit:
-Valve
-Guriella
-Remedy
-Other game studios that I'm forgetting
During the development of the title:
-He went to recruit Mads
-He went to recruit the women
-He went to talk to Refn
-Then starred in a short-lived "TV" show for Refn/cameo at most
-He went to talk to De Niro in NYC
DURING the development of the title:
-He went to NYC for film-fest/con/whatever to talk to De Niro
-He went to Italy/Venice, I think
-He went to Finland/Remedy (studio)
-He went to Japan (home, granted)
-He went to LA (the Game Awards, I think?)
-He went to Seattle (Valve)
-Guriella's location that I'm forgetting (Swiss? Germany?)
-Etc.
Maybe he does work remotely, maybe he does it on the plane (but how if he's not remote syncing before leaving the airport?) but his Twitter
certainly doesn't give the impression that he does work with his team.
Also before I forget: His studio (at Konami) seemed to do weekly movie nights/days where they advertised the latest films or stuff Kojima wanted to see on a builtin board during MGS3-4-5/Peace Walker-6/"5"/Phantom Pain, Ground Zeroes
Now while he's more a "supervisor" role, it really is a
preposition that he's traveling/going to museums (during the Konami fiasco, but that's partly being "fired" and partly before that point), going to film festivals, going on vacation (not a big deal, this one), and the like DURING the development of his titles.
Most developers are in the studio with their teams and only take vacations after the title has launched.
You expect game directors to be at their desk every day to write some code? What year is this, 1985?
Yeah, I expect that the majority of a Creative Director's week will be spent with the team reviewing their work and setting direction. I've been in game dev for 25 years. Not sure what experience you're drawing on.
Also let's not forget that he's not first-party to Sony, they bankrolled him. But he still has to manage the day-to-day (or oversee the funds/payments/etc.) of the studio that has HIS FUCKING NAME on it. Where is he doing the work/what work is he doing with how much he's traveling?