Videogame industry luminary Hideo Kojima, director of Kojima Productions Co., Ltd., has been very vocal about his stance on virtual reality (VR). Often stating that he was ‘excited’ or ‘extremely interested’ in VR – and frequently seen demonstrating new VR technologies at trade shows – Kojima has once again gone on record to state that he believes the transition to VR will be bigger for videogames than the jump from 2D to 3D.
Moreover, Kojima believes that VR will have wider implications, eventually having meaningful impact on our lives outside of videogames. In an interview with Sky News, Kojima stated:
“I think when technology changed from 2D to 3D; it essentially stayed the same as movies and TV. You were always restricted to its frame, this square frame. But now the frame is gone, so I think it will make an even bigger difference than the jump to 3D and I don’t think this change will only be in games.
“Eventually, it could make changes to our whole lifestyle. It might start in games but it will soon have a deep penetration in society. That is when we’ll realise the true value of the technology.”
Kojima himself has previously experimented with VR in the form of Metal Gear Ac!d 2, which shipped with a viewing device called the Solid Eye: a folding cardboard box that slid over the PlayStation Portable (PSP) console, separating the image with a divider in the centre for a stereoscopic effect not too dissimilar to Google Cardboard.
Kojima Productions is yet to reveal any work with VR, announcing its first title as an independent brand (following a departure from Konami in December 2015) at this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), Los Angeles, last month. Death Stranding is a PlayStation 4 exclusive so may well feature PlayStation VR compatibility somewhere along the way, though only time will tell. VRFocus will of course keep you updated with all the latest from Kojima Productions’ potential work in VR.
