Konami seems very eager to get theMetal Gearseries back into the spotlight, as evidenced by it porting some of the classic titles to modern platforms (with seemingly more ports still to come) and theupcoming remake ofMetal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. This new era forMetal Gear, however, obviously lacks any involvement from series creator Hideo Kojima, though producer Noriaki Okamura has said it would “be a dream” if he got to work with Kojima again.
During arecentMetal GearProduction Hotline videoto discuss the series (as spotted byVGC), Okamura, alongside promotions director Jiro Oishi and creative producer Yuji Korekado, answered fan submitted questions. The first one asked if any staff members from the original games could ever return to contribute to the series, even in a supervisory role, which Okamura described as a “tough one.”
Okamura, who has served as a producer on titles likeMetal Gear Solid: Portable OpsandMetal Gear Survive, said it wasn’t his place to speak on behalf of anyone outside of Konami, but he personally would “like nothing better than to work with Mr. Kojima and the rest of the team again. If that could happen, that would be the dream.” Although he also acknowledged that such a dream isn’t entirely feasible as “people have moved on to new things and commitments, and that’s just our current reality.”
Okamura’s desire to collaborate with Kojima once more is a nice sentiment, and one many long-time fans would love to see come true. However, it’s very difficult to imagine Kojima ever working with Konami again. As a reminder, his departure from the company in 2015 wasfar from amicable, and effectively turned Konami into the games industry’s biggest villain for a long time. Not only did Konamiremove Kojima’s name from the cover ofMetal Gear Solid V(the finalMetal Geargame Kojima worked on), he was reportedly barred from attending The Game Awards that year (perIGN), meaning he couldn’t accept the award for Best Action/Adventure game, whichMGS Vwon. Let’s also not forget that before he left, Kojima announced he was helming a newSilent Hillgame with that incredibleP.T.teaser, only for Konami tocancel the projectand scrubP.T.from the PlayStation Store.
It’s not as if Kojima has struggled to find new work in the following years either. He’s enjoyed great success after founding his own studio and partnering with Sony to releasingDeath Stranding. A sequel is now in the works, but Kojima is also working with Microsoft onan Xbox exclusive horror game calledOD, and he’s basically doingMetal Gearagain witha new stealth espionage game, known only asPhysintfor the time being. Knowing all that, why would he ever return to Konami, even if it was for a partnership on a newMetal Gear?
While Kojima may have nothing to do with theSnake Eaterremake, dubbedMetal Gear Solid Delta, Okamura did stress that he and the rest of the original development team will be credited for their work. “They’re a part of these games too, so absolutely, they’re in,” he stressed.
