I know. Anything Hideo Kojima ever says publicly gets over-exposed and over-analysed, all to satisfy the insatiable hunger of raving-mad Metal Gear fanboys. You're probably getting sick of reading about the guy. But you know what? This is genuinely interesting, so it's going up. When asked by Eurogamer what he thought about the recent industry trend in moving away from epic, big-budget, "hardcore" games, Kojima responds:
I still think that there are gamers who love these epic games or hardcore games...Now, as long as these gamers exist I feel a responsibility that someone has to do it, to create these games, so I'm not really worried. Besides if I, or someone else, keep bringing out these epic games, it might change the flow of the industry; people might realise that these are really fun games. And time ever changes, and the flow or demand will change, but if you just look at the current trend, and you see it shrinking and you just stop, it will just become zero, so I don't think that is a wise decision to make. There's a huge user difference. I could back this up with GTA IV, which is a smash hit, and Call of Duty 4 was a smash hit and this season, Gears of War 2 will also probably be a smash hit, so that is proof that there are still gamers out there waiting for these epic games, and I think that will continue. I'm not saying casual gaming is bad, I think that casual games will continue as well as a trend, which is also good. But I think these will coexist.
Exactly! Konami's Hideo Kojima [Eurogamer] [Image]