Metal Gear Solid 4 isn’t coming out for the Xbox 360, and series creator Hideo Kojima wishes you’d all just stop bugging him about it.
In an interview with Eurogamer at Leipzig, Kojima said the game was developed for the PlayStation 3 because he believes the success of the franchise is intertwined with that of the PlayStation, adding that he wished more attention was being paid to the game itself rather than to the hardware on which it was released. “I’ve been doing a lot of interviews and stage shows, and half the questions are like, ‘Will MGS4 be coming out on 360 or other formats?’ and in the near future I hope they’ll ask me about Metal Gear, about us, about our future projects, and will stop caring about the hardware,” he said.
“But, you know, what kind of disturbs me sometimes, because a lot of people ask me about this PS3/360 question, is that it’s not about the hardware – I want people to look at the game itself,” he continued. “Sometimes I even feel like it should be on a PC so that people don’t ask me about hardware and platforms.”
Interestingly, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe President David Reeves said in a separate interview that exclusivity is going to become increasingly uncommon as the expense of game development continues to rise, forcing publishers to seek new sources of revenue. “I think we have to accept that exclusivity is not a thing of the past, but it is probably with publishers,” Reeves told GamesIndustry. “We might do a few things, where we feel that we need a push here or a push there.”
“We have to accept more and more that platform holders themselves cannot have exclusives unless they’re given millions and millions of dollars not to develop a particular game for one particular platform,” he added. “But for developers, and you could take someone like Quantic Dream for example – a great game, it takes a lot of time to develop, they need a little bit of funding, external development. In exchange, it’s exclusive – that works. So exclusivity possibly with developers is more likely than exclusivity with publishers.”
And MGS4 on the 360? Don’t hold your breath, according to Kojima, who said, “Because MGS4 was optimized for the PS3 it is probably not possible.” On the other hand, rumors about MSG5 coming out on the PC should be starting right about… now.
