Hideo Kojima proposes "pilot episodes" for next-gen development
Studios could publish bite-sized sample to judge success before committing
Developing AAA games for the next generation of consoles will cost more than ever. But Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima told Edge about a novel idea which might make some developers more comfortable taking risks on long, expensive projects:
“I think there’s a different way of tackling this problem: something similar to a TV series, where you can use pilot episodes to test the waters before you jump completely into the project… It can be distributed via download channels, so the player can try it out before production continues. Something like that wouldn’t take that long to create, maybe a year, and if it’s successful, you can continue.”
Kojima said PlayStation 4's enhanced download and streaming features make it an ideal place to host such a system, and its social focus means players might even get involved with the development process itself... Hopefully turning out better than Megaman Legends 3.
“I think there’ll be a social aspect to game creation, because it will be more interactive," Kojima said. "You’ll get user feedback, and I think there’ll be this back-and-forth between users and creators.”
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I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and now I'm a staff writer here at GamesRadar.
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