What Hideo Kojima’s Ambitious New Xbox Game Might Be About

One of the biggest surprises of the Xbox and Bethesda 2022 showcase happened when Hideo Kojima popped up to confirm he’s working on a new title in conjunction with Xbox Game Studios. While we still don’t know a lot about the Metal Gear creator’s new game, a few hints that Kojima dropped may have revealed a little more about the project than he meant to share.

For reference, here’s a transcript of exactly what Kojima said during his pre-recorded appearance during the Xbox/Bethesda Showcase:

“Hi everyone, this is Hideo Kojima. Yes, there is a game I have always wanted to make. It’s a completely new game, one that no one has ever experienced or seen before. I’ve waited very long for the day when I could finally start to create it. With Microsoft’s cutting-edge cloud technology and the change in the industry’s trend, it has now become possible to challenge myself to make this never-before-seen concept. It may take some time, but I’m looking forward to teaming up with Xbox Game Studios and hope to bring you some exciting news in the future! Thank you!”

Again, there doesn’t seem to be much to go off of on the surface, but it’s worth noting that this isn’t the first time that Kojima has spoken about that kind of project before. Actually, if he’s talking about the project we think he’s talking about, he’s been pretty open about what that the game he’s always wanted to make is really about.

“I want to create a game that changes in real-time,” said Kojima in an interview with Japanese magazine Anan. “Even though there are people of different ages and trades playing the same game, they are playing it in the same way. Instead, I want the game to change based on where that person lives, and that person’s unique perspective … Because you would defeat vampires using the light from the sun, [Boktai] would change based on where and when you played the game. That kind of feature connects man-made systems to real-life.”

While Kojima uses slightly different language in those interviews, it certainly seems like he’s talking about roughly the same project. Most importantly, he sounds incredibly passionate about the idea of making a dynamic game that changes in real-time and adapts based on the unique traits and experiences of the person playing it. That idea would certainly qualify as a “completely new game, one that no one has ever experienced or seen before.”

You probably also see why advanced cloud gaming technology would help Kojima pursue such a project. After all, if you don’t need to deliver a game via a slightly more permanent medium like a disc or even a pre-coded digital download, the ability to alter that game in real-time based on data related to the user would theoretically be much more realistic.

That being said, your guess is as good as ours regarding what that game will really look like. We’ve seen games that work off real-time clocks (such as Animal Crossing), and we’ve seen games that change based on what branching narrative choices you make, but this sounds like something different. While it seems like Kojima’s idea may combine elements of those concepts, he makes it sound like he’s more interested in finding ways to read you and your surroundings and alter the game based on that information. If Kojima’s next game is the horror title that many believe it is…well, you can imagine how scary it would be to play a horror game that is able to exploit elements of the world around you in some way.

The fact of the matter is that any new Hideo Kojima game is usually reason enough for celebration. If Kojima is serious about pushing the limits of his own considerable imagination with this next project, though…well, we may have an idea of what we’re in store for, but that kind of game could be truly unpredictable indeed.