Hideo Kojima surprised everyone at the end of January, by announcing that alongside the development of Death Stranding 2, he would be revisiting the espionage genre that made him famous with the Metal Gear series, in the form of Physint for PlayStation 5. In a new episode of his online series HideoTube, the producer revealed that his recent illness and surgery, along with the contemplation of his mortality, convinced him to ‘change his priorities’ and finally fulfill the fans’ long-standing requests. In the hour-long episode, Kojima shared how, following his departure from Konami and the establishment of his independent studio Kojima Productions, he desired to “explore new possibilities with my intellectual property” and “push my own limits”, which led to the creation of Death Stranding. “After that, I worked on creating a franchise – Death Stranding 2. And then I wanted to try something new, so I started on OD. And since then, I’ve had tons of novel ideas,” he said. However, Kojima admitted that throughout these eight years, “Every day on social media, fans from around the world have been asking me to make another Metal Gear or something similar.” But it wasn’t until his illness in 2020, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, that these requests took on greater significance.
Physint – Hideo Kojima returns to the action-espionage genre | PlayStation Hideo Kojima has announced his return to the action-espionage genre. He said: “It was also during the epidemic, so I was sick and lonely. I also had surgery. And I thought, ‘I can’t take it anymore.’ I was at my lowest point and felt like I could never go back to making games. I also wrote a will, and at this point I realized that people die. But I turned 60 last year. I will be 70. 10 years. I hope I never retire.” Although Kojima initially referred to Physint as “the culmination of my career” when it was unveiled during the PlayStation State of Play, its significance is still profound – considering Kojima has Death Stranding 2: On the Beach and OD, sponsored by Microsoft, to take care of first. However, he has already generated several concepts of what Physint might encompass, describing it as an “interactive game” that also involves elements of a movie, including “visuals, storyline, themes, characters, action, style, and sound.” Furthermore, it will incorporate movie elements. In his recent episode on HideoTube, Kojima further elaborated on this, stating that even though “it’s going to be a game… if your mom walks in and sees you playing the game, she’ll think you’re watching a movie. I’m convinced that’s the direction we can take.” Kojima had previously expressed his aim for Physint to “break down the boundaries between film and video games”. Will he achieve this goal? Only time will tell, given the current circumstances, we may have to wait a while.
