Hideo Kojima entered the video game industry from 1986. Undoubtedly, the market landscape has changed significantly since then. Of course, the developer is aware of this, so he recently talked about the issue from his Twitter account.
According to the developer, there are certain development practices that are not very beneficial to the industry in general and to players. Above all, with respect to the way in which the current big action titles are produced. Kojima mentioned that it is a mistake to manufacture online, based on the fact that several studios work on different sections of the same game and then assemble them.
"An action game can never be completed by ordering from a blueprint and assembling parts off a factory line ... one must make small daily adjustment on site while creating the game. When everything is outsourced," the developer said in one of his messages.
An action game can never be completed by ordering from a blueprint and assembling parts off a factory line.
— HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) September 5, 2017
Thus, Kojima believes that the development of a title is very different from that of a movie: "Game creation is different from film making. Let’s say we imagine “a hallway the player is meant to walk down according to the game design. The hallway has meaning in the plot as well as the game design ... As the game development proceeds, the details need to be fleshed out," wrote the creative.
Game creation is different from film making. Let’s say we imagine “a hallway the player is meant to walk down according to the game design.
— HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) September 5, 2017
From this perspective, the developer reckons that it is better to work with a centralized production because it allows more attention to the project. "If decision making and supervision are delayed, production efficiency drops, and that leads to redoing work. In order to avoid this trap, one must make small daily adjustment on site while creating the game. When everything is outsourced, the parts that come back just don’t fit together. That is why it’s important to take charge of the little details every day," added Kojima.
Finally, Kojima added that he does not disagree with external work, even if it is supervised internally. This method of work is the one that the developer implemented in Kojima Productions and with which he works on Death Stranding, his next title.
His new project is scheduled to ship exclusively for PlayStation 4, though a PC version should also be available at some point. Recently, Kojima Productions showed the mist system that the title will have.
Do you agree with Kojima that a wholly internal development is best or with the participation of external studios?
