Series veteran and producer on the Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater remake has stated that it would be a dream to work with famed game director and creator of the Metal Gear franchise, Hideo Kojima, again.
In an episode of the show, Metal Gear Production Hotline, a show focused on showcasing the production and development of Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, Noriaki Okamura, a long-time producer of the franchise, said that he personally would love to work with Kojima again. The comment came after being asked a chosen audience question about the possibility of original staff from the original 2004 game returning to assist in development.
“Well, it’s not my place to answer on behalf of anyone outside the company, or to guess how they might feel about it. But just speaking for myself, personally, I’d 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.”
Okamura also explained that, Kojima or no, it will be up to the team they have currently to create a faithful and improved version of the classic title, “We can’t just take it for granted that everyone would work with us again, or let ourselves be completely dependent on them. I just don’t think it’s right for us to be the ones to make that kind of demand of anyone. So we’re working with the expectation that whatever we make, it’s up to us, it’s on our shoulders to do a good job.”
Though the likelihood of Kojima mending bridges with Konami after their tense breakup after the release of Metal Gear Solid V is unlikely, he will still be credited for his work and vision. “Mr. Kojima and all the original development staff are of course credited for their original roles. They were already included in the Master Collection, and they’ll be listed in [Delta] as well. They’re a part of these games too, so absolutely, they’re in.”
Whether Kojima will ever return to Metal Gear is up in the air. While the breakup was tense, it seems as though Okamura’s comments signal an attempt to mend the broken bridge between Konami and the visionary. Though Kojima has since created his own studio with his own new IP, he still is quite active and fond of his work with Metal Gear and does not shy away from sharing content about the series such as fan art.
For his part, Kojima is also quite the busy studio head. As far as we are aware, he is working on at least three major projects: a sequel to his own brain-child, Death Stranding 2, a new IP in collaboration with Xbox, OD, and a brand-new stealth-action game in collaboration with PlayStation, Physint. If he is able to find time to also collaborate with Konami on a new Metal Gear on top of these other projects may be too much even for Kojima, but time will tell if he ever returns to the franchise.
Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater does not have an official release date but is planned to release on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
