Halo Team Hires Kojima Productions Sound Director

Microsoft's internal Halo game development team 343 Industries has hired Sotaro Tojima, a longtime Konami employee who most recently served as sound director on Kojima Productions' Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. Tojima will take the similarly-named role of audio director at 343 Industries, according to a short post made to the studio's official Twitter account. "We're excited to announce our newest member of the 343 family, Audio Director, Sotaro Tojima from Kojima Productions!" the message reads. Before moving up to the sound director role, Tojima served as a sound designer on various Metal Gear Solid games. He also provided composition for the 2001 Game Boy Advance game Castlevania: Circle of the Moon, and has various sound design-related credits dating back to 1991's Super Castlevania IV. The 343/Kojima link likely comes in the form of Ryan Payton, a well-known associate producer at Kojima Productions who left that studio after Metal Gear Solid 4 shipped to take a creative director role on an unannounced Halo game, then at a pre-343 Microsoft Game Studios team.