#Kojima #explains #spy #game #Physint
A week and a half ago, Hideo Kojima and Sony announced PlayStation Physint, a brand new IP with which Kojima returns to the tactical espionage genre. During an episode of HideoTube, he now spoke about that decision to return to the genre that earned him his legendary status.
He first mentions (again) that Physint will blur the lines between games and movies:
“We’re going to make a new action espionage game in cooperation with Sony. It will be both a game and a movie at the same time. That’s why we were at Sony Pictures. Of course, it will be a game. However, if your mother walks in and sees you playing this game, she’ll think you’re watching a movie. I’m not sure how far we can take it yet.”
He then also talks about why exactly he is returning to the genre that put him on the map. A lot has changed in his life (the exit from Konami, the release of Death Stranding) and he feels that it is now time for him to return to his roots.
He also makes himself very vulnerable and talks about a difficult period in his life during the pandemic. He then took the time to think about what he wanted to do with the rest of his life. He also realized that many people wanted a new spy game, and he is now responding to that.
“So why did I decide to make this? Well first off, because I became independent, I wanted to do something new with my own IP. So to challenge myself, I first made Death Stranding. Then, to create a franchise, I made Death Stranding 2. And I wanted to do something even newer, so I started working on OD. And since then, there have been a lot of new ideas. But in the last eight years, every day on social media, from users all around the world, people have been asking me to create another Metal Gear and stuff like that.
Then, I fell ill in 2020. It was also during the pandemic, so I was sick and isolated during all of it. I even had surgery. And I thought, ‘I can’t anymore.’ I was at my lowest and felt like I couldn’t go back to making games. I wrote a will, too. And in that moment, I realized that people die. But, I turned 60 last year. I’ll turn 70 in ten years. I hope to never retire. Having said that, if the users desire it so much, I thought I should change my priorities a bit. I still want to do new things, but I decided to make an action espionage game.”
Finally, he is also a man in demand, because he has received several offers from Hollywood to make films. However, he is not going to do that, because he cannot abandon his company for a few years. However, he now brings the best of both worlds together, since Physint will also be a kind of film.
“I get many requests from Hollywood to make films, but I’ve refused them. Because I have my own company now, I can’t leave for one or two years to go make a movie. The company would collapse. I was in a tough spot. And I talked to Guillermo del Toro about it. And he said, ‘Hideo, what you’re making is already a movie. Keep going as you are.’ His words saved me. And since we’ll be working with many creators in the business, though the output is a game, it won’t be too different from movies.”
If you want to watch the entire episode, you can do so with subtitles below.
