Hideo Kojima is a game designer that is beloved and respected by many. The reasons are numerous, though high on the list is how he is not afraid to take risks. As a result, he helps to advance the medium of video games forward, seemingly every release that he's in charge of.
Though, according to an interview with VideoGamer, one of this upcoming titles, Metal Gear Solid Ground Zeroes, might be too ahead of the curve:
"Video games as a medium haven't matured very much at all in the last 25 years… It's always about killing aliens and zombies. Not that I don't like those kinds of games… they are fun, but I think games have a long way to go before they can mature."
It's certainly a sentiment that many have echoed, especially game players today. So it's refreshing to hear such sentiments from a AAA game developer, who are precisely the kind of folks that are accused of peddling the same old, same old.
Kojima clearly wants to help stir change. Problem is, the rest of the world might not be ready.
"Over the past 25 year I have tried to work with the Metal Gear series to introduce more mature themes, but really it hasn't gotten there yet. Compared to movies and books it still has a long way to go…
That's precisely what I want to try to tackle with Ground Zeroes. Honestly I'm going to be targeting a lot of taboos, a lot of mature themes that really are quite risky. I'm not even sure if I'm going to be able to release the game, and even if I did release the game then maybe it wouldn't sell because it's too much. As a creator I want to take that risk."
In the world of movies, which is often emulated by those in the world of games, on a number of different levels, you sometimes (not always, but again sometimes) see major studios put their muscle behind big budget productions that still dare to be different. And often they're not commercially successful, but it's not the end of the world for those involved, and the studios can afford to take the risk.
Alas, we're not quite there with video games. And as they become increasingly complex and expensive to produce, we're seeing less and less risks from the major publishers. Hence why the indie game scene has flourished so much. Arguably, more so than the indie film scene (granted, it's perhaps not the fairest of comparisons, but then again, movies vs. games is pretty much apples vs. oranges to begin with).
Stil, that's not stopping Kojima, who proudly (and defiantly) states to VideoGamer:
"I'm approaching the project as a creator and [prioritizing] creativity over sales."
