Prior to yesterday’s keynote presentation with Guillermo del Toro, Hideo Kojima spoke with GameSpot in a lengthy interview covering many topics.
First off, Kojima revealed that, since Kojima Productions was officially formed in December, he’s been doing all the work of a new studio – putting together staff, looking for facilities, working on a project, and planning and testing – in parallel, rather than separately. Since people have mentioned that his games take a while to come out, Kojima said he’s “trying to change that.”
Later on in the interview, he addressed the notion that his games take too long to come out and go over budget, calling it a misconception:
A lot of people say that I spent too much money or take too much time, but that’s a misconception. My last project was late about five or six months, but I’ve always kept my word on timelines and budget. For example, I do take three to four years to make games, but that’s the plan from the start.
I take a lot of time because I create my own teasers, posters, and I work on how to create the box for sales. Japanese creators are famous for being loose with schedules, and I think people put me in that category, but it’s not reality. In my case, I’m a director and a producer, so I have to stay aware of production and the budget.
Originally wanting to take a year off after spending 30 years at Konami, Kojima decided to keep working so he didn’t get rusty. His first thought was to work on something edgy, like a small movie, but ultimately decided to sign with Sony to make a big PlayStation 4 game “that’s edgy with a strong story that gives the player a lot of freedom, with new elements, and I don’t know if that’s possible. But we’ll see.”
In terms of creative control on the PS4 game, Kojima said everything’s up to him:
They are not controlling what I’m doing at all; that was part of the conditions, and Sony was very respectful towards me and what I do. In that regard, it’s been very nice, and very pleasant.
While he doesn’t know if the new game will be a series or not, he wants to “want to make something that will have a big enough impact to become a series,” potentially expanding to anime, manga, and figures.
[Source: GameSpot]
