Hideo Kojima Has Stopped Working on His VR Game

Legendary game director Hideo Kojima has been confirmed to be no longer working on a VR (virtual reality) game at present, after many rumors and hints surfaced about his decision. 

Hideo Kojima

In case you don’t know him, Hideo Kojima is a Japanese video game designer, director, producer and writer, who has been interested in action/adventure cinema and literature during his childhood and adolescence. Kojima is in charge of the video game development team Kojima Productions, and is the creator and director of several successful video games, including franchises such as Metal Gear, Snatcher, and Policenauts.

New Project

It was leaked that Kojima Productions had received development kits for PSVR 2 in November 2021, and that a “smaller project” was also in the works, along with rumors of Hideo Kojima no longer working on a virtual reality game. Kojima has repeatedly expressed his open mind towards virtual reality technology and its potential to transcend traditional screens, however, one should wait to learn about his “smaller project” and what he may bring in the future.

In an interview on Tokyo’s J-Wave radio station featuring Hideo Kojima, he himself made fun of his Virtual Reality game, mentioning that it is a challenging little standalone game and that it “plays differently than anything before.” It was also found on the Twitter site OopsLeaks, that the virtual reality narrator Céline Tricart participated in the project of this game.

Canceled VR Game

Kojima confirmed that his virtual reality game project was canceled, as in an interview he conducted with manga author Ryosuke Fuji for the Japanese Pocket Shonen magazine, the topic of virtual reality came up. While they were mentioning virtual reality in the interview, the topic of Ryosuke Fuji’s “Shangri-La Frontier” manga adaptation, which was set in the future, came up, at which time Kojima confirmed that the project was canceled. 

What Kojima said

“Actually, I once tried to make an innovative game in VR, but that project was also interrupted. But I think there is technological potential for VR. Technology is advancing rapidly, and there are more things that can be done, not just in VR, so I think it will be possible to make many more kinds of games in the future,” Kojima mentioned in the interview he gave for the Japanese Pocket Shonen magazine.

Despite this statement, Kojima did not reveal any further information about his canceled project.

Even so with this whole situation with the cancellation of Kojima’s project, there is a virtual reality mod for PC in the works, which will make all Unreal Engine games playable in virtual reality, which is great news for everyone. . As well, gamers will soon be able to play many VR games with the release of PSVR 2, so if you are one of them, wait for it!

Kojima struggles with VR nausea

Kojima commented on his VR experience to Pocket Shonen Magazine in the same interview, saying that he tried it but got dizzy. Which makes us see that his relationship with virtual reality seems complex, especially taking into account terms of the disease of simulation.