Kojima Productions L.A. building campus in Playa Vista, the 'Red Fox' to Tokyo studio

Kojima Productions is expanding to the West with the arrival of Kojima Productions Los Angeles, a secondary development studio to complement the original Kojima Productions in Tokyo, tasking itself with the mission to become one of the "top studios in the world."

While Konami and Kojima Productions have been hiring developers to work in a Los Angeles-based studio since September — with recruiting for "the 'next' MGS" kicking off in February 2012 — the game developer made the studio, its title and its redder Kojima Productions logo official at GDC today.

Kojima Productions Los Angeles' "Hercules" campus will be located in Playa Vista, Calif.

Staffers say Kojima Productions L.A. will work to create "the highest quality interactive entertainment" and "touch people's emotions" with their games, which includes work on the recently confirmed Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain. The studio is currently hiring for a number of positions.

Hideo Kojima, creator of Metal Gear and founder of Kojima Productions, joked that, "Unfortunately, we're not recruiting at Moby Dick Studios," the fictional developer of the game once known simply as The Phantom Pain.