So, a hot bit of news in the gaming industry right now is that Sony dropped Hideo Kojima and his upcoming game–googles it to make sure of the spelling–Physint. It was introduced on January 31st, 2024. Huh. I thought it was earlier than that. Still, though, that’s almost three years ago. Reports are that Kojima has missed important deadlines. I’ll get more into that later.
Sony was trying to do the diplomatic, “We are parting ways because–” but Kojima was like, “Nah, brah. I’m not going out like that. They fired me, yo!” He was pretty blunt about it, which is not how things are done in Japan. Skill Up talked about how pissed Kojima was in this clip. Skill Up, by the way, had one of the more measured takes on the situation. I’ll get to that in a second, too.
People were outraged. So outraged. I saw report after report about how unbelievable this was and how Sony fucked up. How no one saw this coming. And, as I think I mentioned this in a few posts ago, I could not help wondering how I, someone not in the industry, saw this coming from a mile away. In fact, when I watched content about it a few months ago when a flurry of Sony layoffs were happening and the host said with confidence that only Hideo Kojima was safe.
I thought to myself, “Is he?” I didn’t think he was because if Sony was looking to cut their budget, he was an obvious choice. His games are lavish extravaganzas that take forever to make and don’t make back that much money. (For the latter, I’m talking about post-Metal Gear Solids.)
I thought he wasn’t safe. In fact, I thought he was very unsafe. And I wondered if I had lost my mind because everyone said there was no way Sony would get rid of him. He was too vaunted, too revered, and too sacred to get rid of.
Me: Nuh uh!
Let’s remember back to when he was fired by Konami. It was revealed that he had blown the budget wide open and missed deadlines. He denies these claims, but they are widely held to be true. And, to be honest, he’s always rubbed me the wrong way. I found him arrogant and sexist, and I did not appreciate that the latter was breezily ignored (but, nor was I surprised. The gaming industry is rife with sexism).
I felt like he was both supremely creative AND overly self-indulgent when it came to his games. Like many creative people who have reached a certain height, he needs someone who can say no to him and rein him in.
This is my long-winded way of saying that while I don’t doubt Sony acted in their own self-interest in cutting the cord, I don’t exactly blame them. Yes, a lot of their current troubles are self-inflicted (oh boy are they), but I don’t think this is one of them. Except maybe in picking him up in the first place. I mean, I can’t blame them for that, but they should have been a bit more clear-eyed in going into the relationship.
Once again, the sustained outrage to what happened makes me wonder if I’m the one who is fucked up. I am fucked up in general, of course, but about this in particular? I still don’t think so. It’s like how for years after Bloodborne was made, people were rattling for a sequel and reading the tea leaves (wrongly) for any scrap that there would be a sequel. In 2018 (I think? Turns out it was December, 2017) FromSoft had a teaser trailer at one of Geoff’s shows that turned out to be the prosthetic arm in Sekiro, but you couldn’t really tell what it was from the teaser trailer. Oh, and the tagline was Shadows Die Twice*. People went wild with speculation–and a note, people were convinced beforehand that there was going to be a Bloodborne sequel trailer, and I insisted there wouldn’t be.
When the Sekiro teaser trailer came on (shown above), people analyzed it to death. Many concluded that it was the saw cleaver from Bloodborne, indicating a sequel. That’s what they call copeium in the gaming industry, and it’s so real. The copeium, I mean.
I have never thought that there would be a sequel for Bloodborne. No idea why. Well, actually, some idea why. Miyazaki–oh, wait. This post is not about that.
I had a hunch Sony/PlayStation was looking to get rid of Kojima, especially when there was nothing showing from him in quite some time. Xbox picking him up surprised me, but it made sense once I really thought of it. They’re looknig for exclusives, and this is widely agreed upon as being a great exclusive.
Do I agree? Not really. But my opinion doesn’t really count. Knowing Kojima, he could come out with something brilliant in less than a year, and it would be partially out of spite. Funnily enough, Kojima announced the main actor of the game (Bill Skarsgard) a day after making a deal with Xbox. Did he do it out of spite? Oh, most definitely. It may not be the only reason, but it’s certainly a big chunk of the reason the timing was as such.
I have more to say, but I’m tired. I’ll end it here for today and pick it up tomorrow. I want to delve more into why I think it’s not such a big mistake on the part of Sony to part with Kojima. More tomorrow.
*This is so funny. The tagline, I mean. Because no one refers to it as that. It’s always Sekiro. My theory is that Blizzivision insisted on a tagline and this is what FromSoft begrudgingly came up with. Just like the whole map debacle. There *is* a map in Sekiro–though I would wager very few people found it. Was it a helpful map? Nope! It’s also buried in a weird menu. I think it’s the options menu? I’m don’t really remember. It’s a shit map, too. It’s just of the overworld with the broad regions labeled. That’s it. Again, I feel like Blizovision insisted on the map and this was FromSoft’s way of maliciously complying.