Kojima: Microsoft Understood ‘Unusual’ Game when Others ‘thought he was mad’

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Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
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Kojima says Microsoft understood his ‘unusual’ game when others ‘thought he was mad’ | VGC

Xbox and Kojima Productions are collaborating on a cloud-based title…
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Hideo Kojima has explained how his studio came to partner with Microsoft on an upcoming title, and has again suggested it won't be a traditional game.

Alongside the recently confirmed Death Stranding 2, Kojima Productions is currently working with Xbox on a cloud-based project that was announced in June.

At the time, Kojima described it as "a completely new game, one that no one has ever experienced or seen before", and in a more recent interview he claimed one of his next titles is "like a new medium".
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Kojima said the game was pitched to a large number of potential partners, but Microsoft was the only one to really get the concept while others thought he was "mad".
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"I tend to get easily bored," he said. "Part of why I've been able to make games for 30 years is because new technology replaces the old so quickly. The tech you use today may not be applicable tomorrow, and I'm interested in figuring out ways to incorporate the new. Making the wrong choice can result in failure, of course. It's a bit like a space program in that way."

"The project we're working on with Microsoft is one I have been thinking about for five or six years already. The project required infrastructure that was never needed before, so I discussed it with lots of different big companies and gave presentations, but they really seemed to think that I was mad. It was ultimately Microsoft who showed that they understood, and now we're working together on the project, including the technology front."
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Yea, they seem to let their studios do risky games. The hands off approach doesn't lead to as neat of a development factory as Sony but it seems they genuinely don't care what kind of game you make as long as it's content...Kojima probably has complete creative freedom working under them. No expectations outside of something we can put on Gamepass.
 
that fine line between genius and insanity

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"The project we're working on with Microsoft is one I have been thinking about for five or six years already. The project required infrastructure that was never needed before, so I discussed it with lots of different big companies and gave presentations, but they really seemed to think that I was mad. It was ultimately Microsoft who showed that they understood, and now we're working together on the project, including the technology front."
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So he's basically confirming it's the cloud game that was cancelled by Google.
Is it being designed as a streaming title playable on smartphones as well?
 
remember_spinal said:
This is where we pretend sony giving kojima an Avatar budget to make a post apocalyptic package delivery game is seen as more "safe"
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A new IP requiring new technology and infrastructure providing a never before seen experience or a sequel to a multi million selling game - which do you think is more risky?
 
Elios83 said:
So he's basically confirming it's the cloud game that was cancelled by Google.
Is it being designed as a streaming title playable on smartphones as well?
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Yeah, whatever this is, this is a completely different scale and scope compared to whatever was demoed for Stadia in early 2021.

Let's see what zany shit he has in store.
 
zzill3 said:
A new IP requiring new technology and infrastructure providing a never before seen experience or a sequel to a multi million selling game - which do you think is more risky?
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He is saying the initial DS was risky. And the way people talked about it when it launched, it was.
 
TheGodfather07 said:
If sony rejected it when they were OK with a delivery simulator, then you gotta wonder what the hell this is exactly?
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a very weird experimental horror game you stream to a phone that will likely be episodic

less of a traditional game and more of a "interactive experience" you stream
 
Kojima: "Hey Microsoft, I want to-"
Microsoft: "Yes o please God yes whatever you want Kojima-san. Here's 50 million dollars to get you started"
Kojima: "I am a creative genius"
 
As a reminder, Kojima 3 years ago:

The future to come will begin finally. I have been saying for over 10 years, but at the time no one understood it. With "5G" and next "6G", the evolution of technology will not stop. The world awaited finally is about to begin.

Now that 5G commercial services have begun, Google has announced a cloud gaming service, and Apple will also enhance game distribution. Clouding processes one frame of the screen by game operation with a server and delivers it to an individual. There are no dedicated game consoles, and the receiver can be a smartphone, a tablet or a PC.

Cloud games showed signs of boom five to six years ago but did not lead to explosive hits. Although there is a voice of failure, I do not think so. The technology was under the water. Realization is difficult in 4G, but I think that entertainment itself will change within five years of 5G spreading.

Games like never before come out surely. It is clear from the history of the entertainment industry. For example, the average screening time of about 2 hours for a movie was necessary because it was a movie theater. I have to sell popcorn, and after three hours I'm tired and want to go to the bathroom.

With the announcement of Google's cloud game, there will be no dedicated game console at hand, and if you have a display, you can play a full-fledged game with streaming. Viewers watching people play on YouTube will be able to join the game as they are. But this is only an introduction.

As streaming advances further, video content such as games and movies and documentaries will be on the same track. This is the future I want most. What will happen if that happens? With Netflix etc., you will be able to select movies and games on the same screen. "Interactive games" and "non-interactive movies", the quality of the content has been 180 degrees different so far, but the boundaries will disappear.

This movement has already come out. The video content "Black Mirror: Banders Natch" distributed last year on Netflix is so. The story goes on by the viewer selecting the action of the protagonist at the key point. I'm approaching an interactive game.

It's definitely different. It will come out within 5 years when 5G spreads. Even with streaming, there is one big thing I want to do. I can't say because I get so spoiled if I talk too much (laughs).
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I've been getting the same vibe from MS for the past 2 years now. Their Gamepass selections are pretty open minded. Several unusual indie games that had no buzz, selected pretty consistently with good outcomes. Pentiment is pretty unusual for a first party title. High on Life is another unusual bet.

It's not a guarantee that it will last forever, but there's a general atmosphere of experimentation and open-mindedness that attracts me to the platform lately. So I'm not too surprised to see Kojima literally confirm it.
 
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I'm sure Sony didn't want "Only possible with Microsoft Azure" in all the marketing and interviews for an exclusive so they passed it up :p Jk jk
 
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GHG said:
All I ask is for an option to do the rendering on local hardware. If it's cloud streaming only then forget it.
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This exactly. Whatever i read in the original post has me more worried than intrigued i.e "cloud based game" "new technology" "infrastructure" makes me think like Kojima is somehow taking the asynchronous 'strand' concept and taking it to new levels/directions; which sounds like it needs a persistent internet connection and a reliance on other players to progress your own game. No idea how this will be different from an persistent world MMO.
 
Kojima said:
"The project required infrastructure that was never needed before, so I discussed it with lots of different big companies and gave presentations, but they really seemed to think that I was mad."
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Oh give me a fucking break. I restarted DS, and while I am enjoying the game a lot, this mystique that we've now put on Kojima that he's got these grand ideas that just are unfathomable needs to go away: DS is fucking Snowrunner. And Snowrunner is a larger Mudrunner. Full god damn stop. The only thing "head scratching" about the game has nothing to do with the game systems (which, again, have already been done before), but the games story which - at Chapter 4 - is the usual Kojima bullshit (that bit at the end of Ch. 3 was the cherry on an absolutely ridiculous sundae. . .honestly, the "Junk Dealer" questline is one of the cringiest, most brutal fucking things I've ever seen in gaming).

That said, if this just means Kojima is going to get a big budget to make another niche game, I'm fine with the wild hyperbole (which honestly just comes off as advertising and hype generation).
 
I mean, MS is so much starving for exclusives that he could say "I've a concept, it's a PONG game, atari 2600 graphics, except it's sold with a special controller : yes you need to move the racket on screen with your tongue, so we made a tongue sensitive controller", they'd say "YES KOJIMA-SAN, YES, PLEASE"...
 
kyliethicc said:
a very weird experimental horror game you stream to a phone that will likely be episodic

less of a traditional game and more of a "interactive experience" you stream
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Sounds shit. I don't want to stream to my phone. No wonder they thought he was mad. You want us to give you millions to fund a mobile streaming game?
 
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What Microsoft understood was that having an exclusive with Kojima's name attached, would generate buzz which might translate to sales.
 
i think Kojima should do a SCI FI tv series first rather than doing death stranding type games. He is too good for video games.
 
kyliethicc said:
a very weird experimental horror game you stream to a phone that will likely be episodic

less of a traditional game and more of a "interactive experience" you stream
Click to expand...

We literally don't know how close, if at all, it is to that leaked video from who-knows-when.
 
DeepEnigma said:
He is saying the initial DS was risky. And the way people talked about it when it launched, it was.
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You sure? Can't see anything that says Death stranding 1 came anywhere close to having an avatar budget (>$200 million) so I figured they were on about the sequel

I get DS1 was risky as in it's more or less a new genre, sounds like this new game is all that and more, though.
 
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I can't say I'm excited about this. It will probably be some weird, pretentious attempt to get recognition from Hollywood. I would be happy to be proven wrong.
 
This is marketing speak for....

Microsoft were so desperate to associate themselves with me in any way possible that when Google/Stadia deal went tits up that they accepted anything I told them.
 
Bojanglez said:
This is marketing speak for....

Microsoft were so desperate to associate themselves with me in any way possible that when Google/Stadia deal went tits up that they accepted anything I told them.
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Probably. I'm sure Sony and Nintendo are always desperate to work with people who make good games, too. If anyone else had pitched Sony a UPS simulator they'd have probably said no.
 
Bumblebeetuna said:
Probably. I'm sure Sony and Nintendo are always desperate to work with people who make good games, too. If anyone else had pitched Sony a UPS simulator they'd have probably said no.
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To be honest for large parts of playing Death Standing I was questioning why Sony said yes.
 
zzill3 said:
A new IP requiring new technology and infrastructure providing a never before seen experience or a sequel to a multi million selling game - which do you think is more risky?
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If you're Sony could easily see the numbers for Death Stranding and the reception and pivot to something else. There were rumors that Sony was "unhappy" with death strandings sales and refused to green light another kojima game, to see that they not only did offer Kojima another game but its a sequel to that game tells me that Sony isn't as risk adverse as people think.

The same people that continue to think the only reason Days Gone isn't getting a sequel is cause it didn't make enough money

 
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