Kojima: Metal Gear Solid Ground Zeroes Tackles Lots of Taboos

Hideo Kojima has said that his latest Metal Gear Solid project, Ground Zeroes, will be tackling some very taboo and mature themes. In a roundtable attended by SPOnG, the legendary producer joked that the themes might be so risky that he might not even be able to release it at all, let alone sell it.

Responding to a question about the maturity of the video games medium, Kojima said that the industry "has not matured very much in the last 25 years. [The subject is] always about killing aliens and zombies! Not that I have anything against these kind of games - they're fun - but I think games have a long way to go before they mature.

"Over the past 25 years, I have tried to work with the Metal Gear series to try and introduce more mature themes," he added. "But really, it hasn’t happened yet, compared to movies or books. There's still has a long way to go."

Then he opened up about his next project. "That’s precisely what I want to try and tackle with my next project, Ground Zeroes. I’m going to be targeting a lot of taboos, a lot of mature themes, that really are quite risky. Honestly, I’m not even sure if i’ll be able to release the game!

"And even if I did release the game, maybe it wouldn’t sell, because [the themes would be] just too much. But as a creator, I want to take that risk." He noted that his role as both creator and producer has led to some conflict of interest when developing the next title. "As a producer, it’s my job to try and sell the game. But I’m approaching this project from the point of view of a creator, where I’m prioritising creativity over sales."

With a chuckle, he joked, "It’s very possible that some time in the future after Ground Zeroes is out, I may be called up by management who will say, 'Kojima! What are you doing? Ground Zeroes isn’t selling! What have you done?’ And at that point I’ll [hopefully be able to] say, ‘Don’t worry! [Metal Gear] Rising is selling well!’"

Full interview will be hitting SPOnG soon.