although "zone of the enders" had an open ended ending, director noriaki okamura claimed there were no plans for a sequel to the original game. however, in may 2002 konami announced "zone of the enders: the 2nd runner". the team behind "the 2nd runner" had a different director, scriptwriter and game designer. this was done to create a "whole new z.o.e." shuyo murata, who previously did the cinematics for "zone of the enders", wrote an idea for the sequel which involved jehuty surviving to an addiction to metatron, the game's energy. producer hideo kojima liked this idea so much that he appointed murata as the sequel's director. however, no elements from murata's plan were used in the game. kojima stated that most of the game's credit is owed to murata.