Will Hideo Kojima Ever Stop Making Metal Gear Solid?

A closer look at Death Stranding reveals a game that isn't as different as it first seems.

[porkChop]

That was a good read. DS certainly does share a ton of similarities with Metal Gear. I think the game is clearly different enough that the similarities aren't an issue though.

"To one degree or another, Kojima has been leaning on the same tropes since the 1980s. Will he ever make his western?"

I would love to see him craft a story with entirely different themes and tropes. Something truly different for him, far outside of his comfort zone. But I'm satisfied with what we got in DS, even though I think a ton of things could be improved in a sequel.

[darthv72]

this reminds me of bungie. They didnt want to make Halo games anymore and what do they do once they join up with Activision... they make a Halo-esq type of game. Twice now.

Kojima is a very cinematic type of developer. He prefers deep involving stories that make you think (as you watch them unfold). So it's no surprise his first game has some similarities to his previous works. Only this time he doesn't have to answer to Konami but to himself.

[link2Dpast]

I mean this scenario reminds me of when rare and Nintendo parted ways. Together they were just gold but once rare skipped town with Xbumb it was all down the drain for them. Konami can’t really make a true metal gear without it’s true creator, they’d need to in someway have a partner ship to make it work. Again similar to when Nintendo finally made the jump to make a new Donkey Kong game they went out and got developers who were apart of the old development and that worked out great.

[MadLad]

"I mean this scenario reminds me of when rare and Nintendo parted ways. Together they were just gold but once rare skipped town with Xbumb it was all down the drain for them."

Except, when MS bought them, a good number of the main creative talent had either left, or were in the process of leaving, due to them growing tiresome of the leadership at Rare, itself. MS actually gave the team a lot of creative freedom nonetheless. Spread misinformation though. It's only been about two decades now.

[sinspirit]

Stop peddling this collaborative effort between users here on N4G. Rare's creative leads were still on board for 8 years after the deal and then almost all of them left. If they still had their creative leads then you're trying to tell me that the floor level dev team is responsible for the overall vision of the game, the screenwriting, and direction. That's not the case. It's not like they don't have input, but it's due to their creative leads that they succeeded. Yes, Nintendo helped steer them in the right direction during their partnership. Companies lose people all the time. dozens lost upon a lot of acquisitions. It's common. This wasn't the breaking point of Rare at all.

Their failure wasn't directly after this acquisition. Their games just didn't perform well enough. Perfect Dark Zero and Kameo selling over a million copies each was considered a "disappointment". After these games they made Viva Pinata which had basically no marketing while MS pushed insane marketing budgets for Gears of War. After this they made Nuts & Bolts which didn't do so well and then made XBox Avatars. After Nuts & Bolts they were made to focus entirely on the Avatars and then Kinect games. At this point their creative leads left and now we got Yooka-Laylee from Playtonic which is closer to what the fans wanted with a couple rough patches.

[MadLad]

@spirit

Get over yourself.
Fact of the matter is almost all the leads on all of the prolific projects of the SNES or 64 days left for other ventures.
Take off your tinfoil hat. I'm not colluding in some nonsensical game of cards rabbit hole to make MS and Rare look good here on N4G.
I'm not saying "floor level devs" lead the games. I'm saying DIFFERENT leads lead the games, due to original leads leaving the company.

Your other example, being Viva Pinata, actually got multiple releases; as well as a freaking show.
Just saying.

I'm going by word of the team, itself, stating they've been given the freedom to, essentially, work on what they want.
You'll just tell me I'm being biased though.

[DarkKaine]

So much freedom that they denied several pitches for a new KI game and made them work on Kinect sports. And to rub it in they let another studio with a questionable track record actually make a new KI. You should read more things developers have said throughout the years before they started Playtonic and stopped badmouthing them in order to also release on xbox.

[MadLad]

@Darke

Where's Order 1889?

The denial of a game; especially in the name of another developer who the IP holder deems a better suit, doesn't change the fact a developer was treated well and listened to.
I seem to remember the recent KI doing well.

[darthv72]

@kaine, if you know the history of things then you know why they were tasked with kinect stuff instead of working on SoT for 360. Yes... that game was pitched as a 360 game but Mattrick (under direction from Balmer) tasked them with working on Kinect stuff and helping other devs understand the use of the device.

After all that was stopped during the early X1 years, spencer told them they could work on anything they wanted and so they started on SoT like they wanted to. As for KI, they passed on the idea because they wanted "all hands on deck" (pun intended) to work on SoT to get the framework established since it took several years to get it working (the physics engine and water effects and such). once the hard stuff had been overcome, they had a smaller team spin off to work on this new IP.

As for KI, the team that did work on it has done a fantastic job of bringing it to the current century and paying homage to the original team that crafted it. so if your intent was to say something snarky... you lose. Rare has done what they want ever since Spencer took over.

[sinspirit]

@TheRealTedCruz

They left years after the acquisition.

Several users here, you included, are peddling the same story. Whether intentional or not, you're taking other peoples words for it or others take your word for it and are rehashing the same uneducated story to push a narrative. It's what is happening whether intentional or not.

Okay, what leads left the studio during the acquisition? You surely have examples for this. You know, in the gaming industry where lead developers leaving are always publicized by gaming journalists.

Yes, Viva Pinata was quite popular despite poor marketing. It did well, but are you complaining to me about Rare being restructured and made to focus on Avatars and Kinect after Microsoft thought it wasn't good enough? In 2008 they restructured Rare and their industry veteran leads had left the studio. Still no important leads left prior to or during the acquisition like you keep saying.

Have you seen the lead devs for Playtonic? The Playtonic wiki has a page to look at every developer and most of the leads are the same leads that left in, like I keep saying, 2008. And, the leads that left in 2014 to create Playtonic and reach out to those that left in 2008. The Stamper brothers left Rare in 2007. The founders of Rare. I don't know how much I have to spell it out for you. Rare had filtered in and out lead roles quite a lot. They handled a ton of properties. But, the Playtonic crew is as OG as it gets and has veteran leads from their most iconic titles, and they stayed with Rare for several years and releases after the acquisition.

"Fact of the matter is almost all the leads on all of the prolific projects of the SNES or 64 days left for other ventures."

Didn't realize you can call things fact enough times and it magically comes true. Still waiting on a history lesson to tell me which leads left prior to the acquisition. Their most important leads stuck with Rare for several years later.

"I'm going by word of the team, itself, stating they've been given the freedom to, essentially, work on what they want.
You'll just tell me I'm being biased though."

- "Speaking with Not Enough Shaders, ex-Rare modeller Donnchadh Murphy discussed what game he would have liked to have made while at the studio, “Probably the same game every Rare fan wants to see and that’s Killer Instinct. We all wanted to make KI3, but Microsoft [was] more interested in broadening their demographic than making another fighting game. So it never got made, I doubt it ever will.”

- "ON Microsoft’s relationship with Rare, Murphy said, “Personally I don’t think it was a great mix. At first it seemed that they wouldn’t interfere much, but it was soon clear that they were more interested in using Rare to help aim at a younger market. This stifled a lot of creativity, Rare was renowned for their diverse portfolio, so to not be involved in making Mature games was a real blow.”

-"There [were] numerous projects that were put forward that I believe would have been huge hits, but Microsoft rejected them one after the other. I remember seeing a couple of prototypes that Chris Seavor had designed and was working on that looked amazing, but alas they got shelved."

Okay, who said they had this freedom? And, what level of freedom? Freedom to choose the project or to work on whats given? If you stumbled upon what you wanted to hear and ignored what you don't.. Well, it's definitely not being objective. Who from Rare said they had freedom?

[darthv72]

you do know that Rare was falling apart even before MS bought them... right?

[Veneno]

Kojima is making a spiritual successor called: Plastic Screw Likwid.

[bloop]

https://youtu.be/6zXDo4dL7S...

[Traecy]

Konami owns it, Kojima left Konami so it's a given Kojima is done making MGS games.

[porkChop]

Read the article lol. It's not literally about him making MGS games.

[TheColbertinator]

Kojima has made other types of games before but they weren't strong sellers like MGS so, like many developers, he prefers some familiar tropes.

[Nacho_Z]

P.T suggests that he can. I imagine he's got a lot of ideas knocking around in the old coconut. I'd like to see him make something like Deadly Premonition but with the flair for horror we saw in P.T.

[IAreBeMrLee]

Question is, after survive, do we want another MGS?