Kojima says that he asked developers not to work nights on MGS1 to save money

Metal Gear Solid collection — (Image credit: Konami)

Metal Gear Solid, the series that put famed developer Hideo Kojima on the map, recently celebrated its whopping 25th anniversary. To mark the milestone birthday, Kojima sneaked onto social media to reveal various tidbits about the classic stealth up ‘em, including the various ways he had to cut costs on the project.

“MGS1 was a major turning point for me,” wrote Kojima on the website previously known as Twitter. “Not only was it the first major PlayStation game to be released worldwide, but it was also a major change in terms of production. Although I had previously planned, written, designed, and directed the game, my superiors had been responsible for production,” he continued. “I had no authority to make decisions on platforms, budgets, release dates, promotions, hiring of staff, participation of outside creators, and so on. When is it effective to sell? How much would be enough to turn a profit? How would we sell?” That’s in stark contrast to the amount of control Kojima now has since he normally edits the trailers for his own games.

“MGS1 was the first work I produced on my own,” continued Kojima, as he explained that “to reduce the monthly electricity bill,” he had to ask the company to stop working at night. That probably had the compounding effect of helping with employees’ work/life balance, too.

It’s all an interesting screenshot of how Kojima cut his teeth. But the comments also make the recent Kojima documentary seem even more over the top, in some ways. Regardless, rights holder Konami are celebrating the admired series without Kojima as they recently revealed that a Metal Gear Solid 3 remake is on the way. Meanwhile, Kojima is busy directing Death Stranding 2, the sequel to his post-apocalyptic postal sim.

Here’s everything we know about Death Stranding 2 at the moment.

Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that's vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he'll soon forget.