Kojima: 'Maybe 10 Years Left' - Why He'll Never Make Metal Gear Again

Hideo Kojima has done the math on his own career, and the numbers are sobering. In a new interview with IGN, the 63-year-old creator said he might only have about 10 years left to make games — and that's exactly why he's pouring everything into PHYSINT.

"For me personally, this is Kojima Productions' 10th anniversary, and also my 40th year in game creation, so that's why I'm putting so much of myself into PHYSINT," he said. "You could call it the culmination of both of those milestones."

Kojima also opened up about his health during the pandemic, a period when he started asking himself how much time he actually had left. "I was really thinking that at this stage of my career, I should put all my energy into PHYSINT," he explained. "I really wanted to keep pushing this project forward even after that meeting. I kept thinking: 'What should I do?'"

When IGN asked whether he had ever lost faith in PHYSINT, his answer was blunt: no. "Never," he said. "It's a brand-new game, but... I have to say this very carefully: as long as it's a spy genre, it will definitely be fun, no matter what kind of game it is." He pointed to Death Stranding as proof that weird concepts can work. "Death Stranding was a delivery game. People said, 'What? Delivery? What kind of game is that?'"

As for how PHYSINT came together, Kojima basically confirmed what everyone suspected — it's a spiritual successor to Metal Gear in all but name. While working on Death Stranding 2: On the Beach and after OD was locked in, he needed to plan his next project to keep the studio running. "OD is a fairly avant-garde, radical game, so I thought maybe the next project could be even more extreme," he said.

Then he started reading messages from fans, all begging for another Metal Gear. "I wasn't really interested in that, because Metal Gear is already in the past. I wanted to do something new," Kojima admitted. "But seeing so many people ask for it, I started thinking, maybe I only have 10 years left. Of course, I can't make Metal Gear again — that's Konami's IP. But I thought: 'Okay, maybe I should create a brand-new action spy game.'"

That idea turned into a handshake deal with former SIE CEO Jim Ryan, shortly before Ryan retired. "He said, 'Oh, that's a great idea. Let's make a brand-new action spy game together,'" Kojima recalled. "Then we shook hands, and that's how the partnership started." He noted that Sony's structure has changed since Ryan's era, but the project is still something both sides agreed on and are excited about — which made the events of this June hit even harder.

"If I only have 10 years left, then there are still a lot of things I want to do," Kojima said. "So I want to prioritize them and decide what I can actually still accomplish." What do you want to see Kojima tackle in whatever time he has left? Drop your thoughts below.