Technical Limitations Forced Kojima to Make Linear Games with Long Cutscenes

Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain is the biggest game that Hideo Kojima has ever made. The size of the project has actually made him worry about the number of people who will be able to finish it, but there’s no doubt that the power of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One have allowed for a new level of freedom in the Metal Gear franchise. Speaking with IGN, Kojima admitted that this is the game he’s always wanted to make.

“I’ve wanted to create a game like this for a long time, but due to hardware limitations, I wasn’t able until now,” he explained. “I wanted to add as much freedom as possible, and that wasn’t possible technology-wise.”

The stealth series has been known for its linear design and – most importantly – it’s use of long-winded cutscenes. Kojima blames old technology for this setup.

“I had to make linear games, with cutscenes to make it more dramatic,” he continued. “But now, I can give the player as much freedom as possible.

“We wanted to make this game as accessible to people as possible, so in that regard we had to look at as many other company’s games as possible, and try to come up with something that’s more standard, with a standard set of controls.”

Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes will launch later this month, while The Phantom Pain is expected to be released in 2015.