Hideo Kojima criticizes over-hyped games, completely misses the irony

Hideo Kojima, creator of the Metal Gear Solid franchise, said Tuesday that the game industry is on the verge of crisis due to over-hyped games and ad campaigns.

Hideo Kojima criticizes next gen game industry

Spiraling development costs and super hyped ad campaigns make Kojima a sad man

Metal Gear Solid 4 creator Hideo Kojima, who promoted the game with a rock star launch party here in the United States, has today criticized the game industry for over hyping video games and hurting sales.

The complaint arrived via a job posting at the Kojima Productions web site, were Kojima lamented that "the creativity of video games is now on the verge of crisis. Massive advertising campaigns are executed for games before their entertainment values are put into consideration all too often, resulting in sell-off tactics happening without hesitation." (translated at Kotaku)

Meanwhile, it's interesting to note that Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots has yet to reach 1 million units sold in Japan. Add to that the fact that almost half the unsold copies hit the Japanese bargain bins less than a month after release, and Kojima's "rant" against gaming takes on a whole new light.

Comments [63]

post a comment

Zexion_VI_OrgXIII

I agree, the market is in crisis. I believe it should die again, and be reborn to a new era. lol. We need another E.T. and a new Mario. lol

Aegis

Well I'm not that surprised that MGS 4 didn't sell that well in Japan. The Metal Gear Solid series was never really that popular with Japanese gamers, it was only really popular with Western gamers.

ChosenFew

Bargain bin after a month of release? Man why can't that happen here? We need to stop buying games when they come out and hopefully companies will push their product to the bargain bin earlier :) Gamestop sells MGS4 used at $55 if I'm not mistaken. That ain't no bargain.

nintendoes

ChosenFew wrote:

Bargain bin after a month of release? Man why can't that happen here? We need to stop buying games when they come out and hopefully companies will push their product to the bargain bin earlier :) Gamestop sells MGS4 used at $55 if I'm not mistaken. That ain't no bargain.

LOL $55.00 LOL Used? LOL

goldberg_evan

Or maybe it's on the verge of crisis because people are sick of paying $60 for a game that they will possibly play once through then put it on the shelves....or maybe a $400 console has something to do with it...

monkbaine

The game industry is in crisis. I agree fully with Kojima san,as I have noticed proof of the points he's made all across the board. I just hope we don't another crash in the market like with the Atari 2600 era. I been a fan of video games far too long to have to endure another one of those.

MikeTheGreat

It's true though i actually buy less games than i did in the past cause they are either fun, but not long enough hours for 60 dollars or it sucks. I look at a game like, Too Human or MOH: Airborne, and i get excited for them, but i end up not buying them cause they are either not that fun, or bad, or worth a rental. Honestly, forget about the problem of casual gameplay in a lot of games cause this is a bigger concern. We need our games to be good, not overhyped.

Post a Comment