Hideo Kojima recently sat down with 1UP to share his thoughts on the creation of Metal Gear Solid 4 and to shed a little light on what he's already thinking about for Metal Gear Solid 5.
1UP: Naturally, you have to make compromises with every game. Looking back at Metal Gear Solid 4, were there many features that you left out from the final product?
HK: There were so many things! I won't say that we made a lot of mistakes, but even with MGS2, the last time I created a game for new hardware, I learned to take steps very cautiously. It was new technology, so we had to take things day by day, moving in baby steps. After MGS3, I couldn't really work like that -- I had a lot of business things that I had to take care of and other projects that were dividing my attention. So the point is, with MGS3 this wasn't so difficult -- we were working on the same platform as before, and I could pretty much just let the staff continue doing what they learned working on MGS2.
With MGS4, however, we were once again dealing with new hardware, and it really pushed us. What I regret is that I should have probably concentrated more on the fact that we were working on a new machine. I let the staff work like it had on MGS3, and we came to a point where we had problems, which I should have recognized earlier. I should've paid closer attention to what the staff was doing. Because of this, it was the first time we delayed a major game. This hadn't happened before with an MGS game, and it was all due to those problems.(...)
1UP: So the next game...is the Kojima Productions slate really clean? MGS4 is done, so is there nothing else in development? Because that's what it sounds like. What happens next?
HK: I would like to just make a new game, and the younger staff can work on the new MGS projects. For MGS5, it's very difficult to explain right now because we haven't announced anything. I have really high expectations of my young staff, though. I hope they have learned from their mistakes and that they won't repeat them this time around. But believe me, I also made mistakes on the decision side of things, and I don't want to make those mistakes again, either. I will step in with more courage if I see the staff going down the wrong path again.
I have three concepts for MGS5 already. What would be ideal for me with MGS5, though, is that we don't do those. If the team picks one of those concepts, I have to get involved again, which I don't want to do.
There are already so many good ideas from the staff, so if we select one of those, that would be really good. At that point I could really rely on them and take the step back to be the producer, which is the ideal situation, I think.
The interview is two pages long, and worth a look if you've ever played a MGS game before.
HK: There were so many things! I won't say that we made a lot of mistakes, but even with MGS2, the last time I created a game for new hardware, I learned to take steps very cautiously. It was new technology, so we had to take things day by day, moving in baby steps. After MGS3, I couldn't really work like that -- I had a lot of business things that I had to take care of and other projects that were dividing my attention. So the point is, with MGS3 this wasn't so difficult -- we were working on the same platform as before, and I could pretty much just let the staff continue doing what they learned working on MGS2.
With MGS4, however, we were once again dealing with new hardware, and it really pushed us. What I regret is that I should have probably concentrated more on the fact that we were working on a new machine. I let the staff work like it had on MGS3, and we came to a point where we had problems, which I should have recognized earlier. I should've paid closer attention to what the staff was doing. Because of this, it was the first time we delayed a major game. This hadn't happened before with an MGS game, and it was all due to those problems.(...)
1UP: So the next game...is the Kojima Productions slate really clean? MGS4 is done, so is there nothing else in development? Because that's what it sounds like. What happens next?
HK: I would like to just make a new game, and the younger staff can work on the new MGS projects. For MGS5, it's very difficult to explain right now because we haven't announced anything. I have really high expectations of my young staff, though. I hope they have learned from their mistakes and that they won't repeat them this time around. But believe me, I also made mistakes on the decision side of things, and I don't want to make those mistakes again, either. I will step in with more courage if I see the staff going down the wrong path again.
I have three concepts for MGS5 already. What would be ideal for me with MGS5, though, is that we don't do those. If the team picks one of those concepts, I have to get involved again, which I don't want to do.
There are already so many good ideas from the staff, so if we select one of those, that would be really good. At that point I could really rely on them and take the step back to be the producer, which is the ideal situation, I think.