Hideo Kojima’s final farewell to German actor Udo Kier: “Thank you, and rest in peace”

Although German actor Udo Kier passed away in November 2025, his public memorial service did not take place until the end of January 2026, a commemorative event attended by Hideo Kojima. The famous video game developer had a close personal and professional relationship with Kier thanks to OD, a title in which the actor would have been one of the main characters using facial scanning and motion capture technology.

Kojima bids farewell to Udo Kier by attending the public tribute to the actor from ‘Suspiria’ and ‘The End of Days’.

On Tuesday, January 27, 2026, Hideo Kojima published a brief but emotional text on X. The creator of Metal Gear and Snatcher announced his attendance at the final farewell to Udo Kier, the German actor who passed away at the end of last year. Unlike his lengthy farewell when he learned of the death, in this case he let the actions speak for themselves, with a laconic text: “Attended the memorial service for Udo Kier and said my farewell. ‘Thank you, and rest in peace.’”

The personal and professional relationship between Udo Kier and Hideo Kojima dates back to at least 2022, when it was announced at that year’s Xbox Games Showcase that Kojima Productions was working closely with Xbox on a new video game. The title was officially revealed at the 2023 Game Awards, where it was announced that the screenwriters would be Kojima himself and Jordan Peele, and the protagonists would be digitized versions of Sophia Lillis, Hunter Schafer, and Udo Kier. It is a horror title in which Kojima will put players to the test, exploring “the true meaning of fear overload.”

Unfortunately, Udo Kier’s motion capture work was never completed due to a strike, and was scheduled to be finished during the current year, 2026. Although Kojima communicated with Kier regularly by email, his status within the video game remains a mystery after his death, as it is currently unknown whether he will ultimately make a posthumous appearance or if a replacement will be sought for his role.

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Udo Kier was born in 1944 and died in 2025 at the age of 81. During his long career, which began in 1966, he appeared in more than 220 different films by renowned directors such as Lars von Trier, Gus Van Sant, Dario Argento, and Werner Herzog. The world of video games was not new to him either; before his collaboration with Kojima, he also participated in titles such as Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 (2000) and its expansion Yuri’s Revenge (2001), Call of Duty: WWII (2017), and Martha is Dead (2022).

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