Last week Metal Gear mastermind Hideo Kojima offered a glimpse into his new and lovely-looking studio, within which he's creating his first independent game Death Stranding. Not much is known about the elusive project beyond its cast and strange themes, however Kojima has described it as a "really new idea" which is "best for the market."
In conversation with Glixel, Kojima says this against the fact he generates fresh ideas on a daily basis which often overlap and underscore one another. Leaving such an impressive series as Metal Gear behind has meant much rests on the 30-year veteran's next move, which is why market considerations apply.
"Of course after leaving my former employer and starting up a new company, the first question was about what we should make," says Kojima. "Naturally we have to make something, but I have so many ideas all the time. I come up with new ideas every day and they all override each other. I had several at the front of my mind, and we ended up choosing the game that—first of all—would be best for the market, and the one we were most enthusiastic about making. That was Death Stranding. It wasn’t an idea that we'd had for a long time, it was really a new idea."
Never one to shy from real life political influences in his games, Kojima says he's interested in the global spectrum at the moment, and is "afraid" of "politics moving to the right"—particularly in America. He adds: "I believe you should make something that matches the times, because the world changes every day. There’s new news every day, the people in the world change all the time. Sometimes film directors come up with an idea when they’re a child, and then they make the film when they’re an adult. I don’t think that’s something you should do, because it’s no longer topical."
Following his very public and acrimonious split with former employer Konami, there was some suggestion at the time that Kojima would take a break from making games altogether. Kojima admits he did think about pursuing other areas within the arts—such as film or novel writing—however felt he owed it to the world to show what he was capable of on his own.
"I want to continue to work and create games until I die," he says. "I don’t want to leave work and spend the rest of my life fishing. I want to be there on the front lines with the young blood until I die."
Glixel's interview can be read in its entirety over here.
