After a long, very public divorce, Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima and publisher Konami have finally parted ways (even though Konami would prefer us to think Kojima is just on vacation). Recently, Kojima announced he’d founded a new independent version of Kojima Productions, and that Sony will be publishing his next game for the PC and PS4.
In a recent interview with IGN, Kojima delved a little deeper into his future plans. So far, it sounds like the new Kojima productions is just three people: Kojima himself, longtime Metal Gear Solid artist Yoji Shinkawa, and producer Kenichiro Imaizumi. As for Kojima’s next game, he says he wants to make something that’s “slightly more edgy” than Metal Gear, which is a pretty high bar to cross.
“I want to create something that’s what people expect, but at the same time will have something new that people haven’t seen before. It will be a complete game, but I’m thinking smaller-scale.”
While video games will be the first priority for the new studio, Kojima is a noted movie nut, and it sounds like he’s going to be branching into other forms of entertainment now that he’s free from Konami:
“The focus is on digital content, so we could consider movies, animations, anything, but first I think people expect games from me. That’s where I want to put my focus. Once we have an established IP in games, something solid that satisfies people, then we can consider movies and videos.”
IGN confirms that Kojima is also still interested in working with Guillermo del Toro, the man he was collaborating with on the sadly-canceled Silent Hills.
One other tidbit – IGN quotes artist Shinkawa as saying he’s hard at work designing characters, backgrounds and mechs for Kojima’s new games. Mechs, huh? Could Kojima’s new game be more Zone of the Enders than Metal Gear Solid?
Whatever Kojima ends up making, it’s definitely exciting to see one of the most iconoclastic, talented developers in the industry freed from his shackles. Kojima’s next game could be a masterpiece, or it could be an epic disaster, but either way, it’s going to be fascinating.
via IGN