Hideo Kojima claims he recently had a ‘major project’ cancelled

Hideo Kojima has claimed he recently had a “major” in-development project cancelled.

The Metal Gear creator made the comments in an extensive interview with Japanese site Livedoor (translated by VGC), in which he also reflects on the sales performance of Death Stranding, which he said he considers a success overall.

Asked about plans for his next game, Kojima said: “It’s still in the early planning stages so I can’t say much, but on the down-low I’m actively working on it.

“Recently a major project of mine got cancelled so I’m pretty pissed, but that’s the games industry for you.”

Asked about Death Stranding sales, the Japanese designer said there was no need to worry about funding for Kojima Productions’ next project.

“We’ve absolutely crossed the line we needed to cross to be in the black, including recovering development costs, so I’d call it a successful result,” he said.

“We still have the PC release coming up, and we’ve secured enough to begin preparing for our next project, so there’s no need to worry.”

Kojima has reportedly said he’d like to work on multiple projects alongside his studio’s next “big” game, which has been hinted to be a horror title.

One person with knowledge of the studio’s plans told VGC it had also opened early discussions about making a project for Google Stadia. However, it’s not clear if those discussions developed.

Stadia’s head of games, Jade Raymond, visited Kojima Productions in July 2019, and the designer has previously expressed a desire to explore a “new format of game” enabled by cloud gaming platforms.

“I think within the next few years, gaming will move on to streaming,” Kojima told BBC Newsbeat in November 2019. “Movies, dramas and games will all be streamed and you’ll enjoy them on your iPad or iPhone or a screen anytime, anywhere,” he said.

“When that happens games, films and dramas will have to compete in the same space. I’m very interested in the new format of game that will appear on there and that’s what I want to take on.”

In the Livedoor interview, Kojima specifically refuted recent claims that he had secretly resurrected Konami’s cancelled Silent Hills project, saying “that’s completely false.”

The PC release of Death Stranding was recently delayed by six weeks to July 14.