Kojima the oathbreaker

 A tantrum, to surpass Metal Gear

The Fandoming state of the game industry, best exemplified by the console wars of the Microsoft-Sony era, really feels like it should be a relic of the long past nowadays, doesn't it? Drawing battle lines and suiting up to duke it out over which soulless corporation you'd prefer to shower with money just doesn't feel like the best use or anyone's time really, especially when we all just want to play games as easily as we can. (Isn't this all supposed to be about having fun? I was led to believe this was a fun-driven pastime, I may be wrong about that, who knows?) It's just a side to gaming that really had it's heyday in the time of Sega and Nintendo, but really petered out into an embarrassingly sad mud slinging contest by the next age and now- isn't it just a little cringey? I say this as I feel like through reinforcement I may be able to shatter the veil of reality and will it out of existence, because outside of my heart it seems no one actually within the gaming community is willing to move on from all that nonsense.

I'm not saying that every gamer out there should seek out harmony, find their fellow man and hug them in the street, or anything; just have some sense and focus frustrations at the right people. Especially when the big corporations putting out these consoles aren't even putting their heart into these 'console wars' anymore. Heck, I can't think of a single direct attack ad from Microsoft at Sony, and vice versea there's only ever been a few light hearted jabs like the "this is how you share a game on Playstation" mock-ad from the last generation. So is this just the universe rebalancing itself then? The companys realise that this whole act is childish so the consumers have to become more childish in order to make up for it? What I'm trying to say, at the end of the day, is screw console favouritism, it's stupid, and this latest tell is prime exhibit A why the larger gaming community needs to grow up.

So when I say Kojima, in this age, the kneejerk reaction is probably to think up that crazy conspiracy theory linking him to some obscure indie game that just happened to accidentally throw a hint down the wrong rabbit hole. I haven't covered that in a blog of it's own because I think it's totally ridiculous and find the amount of contrived 'connections' that these conspiracy theorists are expositing as 'fact' incredibly embarrassing. Besides, that's not the wild rumour I want to talk about today. Rather I'm invoking the rumour that ol' Hideo Kojima has jumped across the aisle and is currently working alongside Mircosoft for an Xbox exclusive game to balance out the scales for the blockbuster Playstation game he put out. (It better come with a PC/ Xbox port of Metal Gear Solid 4. I still haven't got to play that game yet.) Now given what I've already discussed you can probably see where this is going.

But before I single in on it, I feel it's important to stress the point to you how much of a rumour this story is. And I know we're talking about Kojima here, the guy who lives his entire life consisting of 90% pure rumour at all times, like a secrets-based version of The Pain from MGS3. But even taking into account who we're talking about, this is the sort of rumour that has about as much evidence going for it as the one that Kojima was fired from Konami for cucking the CEO. Or the one about him buttering up the guys at Konami in ongoing talks so that he can secure the rights to buy the Metal Gear franchise from under their noses. Or the one about him hiring look-alikes to place themselves in high-trafficked public places as an alibi for when he breaks into the Konami offices to forcibly steel his IP back. (Okay, so I made that last one up, but it fits the mould of the sort of stories people spread about this guy.) Basically; there is next to no evidence that this supposed project is even in post-production yet. That's something I want you to keep in mind.

'Cancel Kojima Xbox Exclusive game' reads the title of a recently published Change.org petition by someone whom we can only assume is a dedicated Playstation fan with at least five Sony themed teashirts that he cycles through on a weekly basis. "Kojima is betraying his loyal fans" the thread begins, as though the only way someone could ever be a fan of Kojima game is if they own a Playstation. (My god, I've been a fake fan all these years!) "He has been blinded by greed. We must help him come back to the winning side. PLEASE SHARE THIS PETITION EVERYWHERE" Well hell, I'm doing my part! Take a look at this weirdly possessive and territorial petition, doesn't it just make you want to take up arms for the Holy Sony empire? It continues "Not everyone has good enough Internet to Stream games". I- I guess that's accurate it's just- what does that have to do with Xbox? Does he think Xbox is Stadia? "Not everyone has the money to buy a new console or build a new pc" Okay, now this guy's speaking my language, whilst remaining typically narrow minded about the situation. "Please Kojima, don't leave us". How touching.

So of course at the end of the day this is just a Change.org petition, and thus is about as harmless as jotting down all of his concerns and issues onto a paper airplane, getting a thousand signatures, and then launching it off in the general direction of where he thinks Japan is. You'd be more likely to get a response from a write in campaign, but at this point I don't event think that would achieve anything given that this story had done the news rounds and Kojima Productions hasn't so much as commented 'no comment' about it. If there is any action even less productive then doing nothing, an act which doesn't even produce neutral Jing, it's starting a Change.org petition, and so by the lessons of King Lear, nothing will come of nothing. Still, isn't that just telling of how some gamers out there think?

I find myself constantly going back and gawking at phrases like "Betraying his loyal fans" and "Don't leave us", with the utmost bewilderment. It reeks with the same sort of delusional personal attachment you'd expect from a parasocial relationship, but Kojima is just a game directing personality, which isn't usually the sort of position that breeds such misplaced emotions. Rather I think this ties back to console loyalty and the sheer void of confused patriotism that these communities inexplicably invent and encourage. When Kojima makes a Playstation exclusive he's playing ball with the fans, but the second he's rumoured to do the same for Xbox he's a greed-driven iconoclast, spitting in the face of all those devoted. A pariah to the religion of Sony! Oh please...

And of course, I'm not a fan of exclusivity, never have been never will be, but I've rarely found myself as deeply personally cut as this guy appears to be over this Kojima case. (With the exception of that time when Persona 5 wasn't announced for PC this E3. Damn you, Sony...) Now there are some out there who seem to think that this is an elaborate joke, and I'm sure that this joker will, once they reflect on how embarrassing this is, flock to that very excuse to try and conjure some dignity out of this whole farce but even if that is true, the plain fact that this is believable in the first place speaks volumes to the sorts of voices in the gaming community today. Glad this is what gamers are talking about out loud whilst behind the scenes Sony are trying desperately to establish £70 as a reasonable price point for new games. Way to keep priorities straight, everybody.