After the release of Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, Edge Online sat down with Hideo Kojima to discuss what his plans are for Sony’s upcoming PlayStation 4. Although his many titles, such as Metal Gear Solid and Zone of the Enders, have represented the PlayStation brand for many years, Kojima was more critical this time when sharing his thoughts on Sony’s new platform.
Kojima admits he did not attend Sony’s PlayStation Meeting due to a heavy workload, but says he knew what the hardware was and is waiting to see what other developers will do first before experimenting with the technology himself.
Kojima compliments the hardware, but he does not see a lot of value in it until there can be some quality software. He says, “It’s nothing special; you could see it coming. It’s the logical evolution of the platform and I think it has to head in that direction, hearing what you said is not surprising.”
To recall an earlier interview with IGN, Kojima calls it a “vertical evolution” when hardware expands on obvious criteria like “visual fidelity, audio, frame rate, 3D capability, etc, etc.” There is, however, not as much of a “horizontal expansion,” as he calls it—technology that focuses beyond tangible areas of game design, such as online capabilities and social interactions. He believes these “horizontal” aspects can progressively improve games for the future, including Metal Gear Solid.
Though Kojima has already shown considerable enthusiasm for the multi-device features and social aspects of the system, he shares concerns that they will not guarantee success unless there are games that utilize these features.
“What will really determine whether or not it sells is what titles will be available for the platform,” he says. “And unfortunately, even though I am friends with [PS4 lead system architect] Mark Cerny, he’s never told me what other studios are working on. I even ate a meal with him recently and he didn’t tell me anything.”
Kojima brings up a valid point about valuing software over hardware. Granted, his popular games have always boasted technology with high graphical fidelity and lengthy cinematics; but they also make full use of system capabilities and represent what the hardware can do. If more developers are open to experiment, the amount of software they can produce can interest a lot of people and warrant success for the PlayStation 4.
The full interview between Edge and Hideo Kojima will be available in the March 2013 issue of Edge magazine, available March 14.
