Hideo Kojima, vindicated, set to grace The Game Awards stage this year

Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima will attend this year’s The Game Awards, where he’ll receive the 2016 Industry Icon Award live and on-stage. Host Geoff Keighley revealed Kojima’s special appearance on Twitter yesterday, where he expressed excitement for his longtime friend’s honor.

It’s a major achievement for Kojima, moreso because of his history with The Game Awards than for the award itself. Last December, Keighley invited Kojima to take to the stage and collect trophies for Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain, which won in a handful of categories. The event’s most memorable moment was Keighley candidly telling the audience that Kojima would be unable to receive the awards for his final Metal Gear game, however, because his ex-employer Konami had barred him for attendance.

Kojima and Konami went through a painful, public fallout just ahead of the release of Metal Gear Solid 5 last year. The protracted breakup included the cancelation of Silent Hills, the removal of Kojima’s name from the cover of the final Metal Gear Solid title and the dissolution of Kojima Productions Los Angeles.

Kojima’s on the up-and-up these days, however. He formed a new studio called Kojima Productions shortly after leaving Konami. In June, appeared during Sony’s E3 2016 press conference to reveal his next project: Death Stranding, which is slated for a PlayStation 4 release sometime in the distant future. It looks as aesthetically wonderful and complex as any of his older stuff, which goes to show that this “industry icon” endures.

The Game Awards 2016 will stream live at 9 p.m. ET on Dec. 1.