Hideo Kojima touts potential of ‘pilot episodes’ for next-gen game development

[itachi73378]

Game developers could release TV-style ‘pilot episodes’ for games on next-gen platforms to gauge interest before fully committing to a three or four year project, says Hideo Kojima.

The Metal Gear legend also told us that next-gen game development could be more social and based on user feedback. He spoke to us as part of his Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance world tour.

When asked whether new consoles could mean bigger development teams, Kojima replied: “It’s possible to make many things more realistic, but that doesn’t mean you should. You have to prioritise, and that is what’s going to separate the teams that succeed from the teams that don’t. A very deep, 20-30 hour game might need a bigger team and take three or four years.”

“[But] I think there’s a different way of tackling this problem: something similar to a TV series, where you can use pilot episodes to test the waters before you jump completely into the project… It can be distributed via download channels, so the player can try it out before production continues. Something like that wouldn’t take that long to create, maybe a year, and if it’s successful, you can continue.”

He added that next-generation consoles could encourage greater community interaction during the development process. “I think there’ll be a social aspect to game creation, because it will be more interactive. You’ll get user feedback, and I think there’ll be this back-and-forth between users and creators.”

Kojima was speaking as part of the next Edge magazine’s cover feature, in which we reveal how Konami’s next-gen game engine will power the next Pro Evolution Soccer title. It goes on sale March 14th.

He also revealed his first impressions of PS4 in a story we posted on Friday.
http://www.edge-online.com/news/koji...e-development/

Great idea. GT5 prologue did that and it sold 5million+

I would buy a 2-3 hour Kingdom Hearts 3 prologue in a heartbeat

[ps3freak18]

Kind of like the walking dead game i guess. Could be interesting. Well have to see if something like this pans out.

[bigCman123]

I love the idea of smaller sections of triple A content. That way games that could end up getting canned can see the light of day in some form. Potential sales for the pilot could generate some revenue, interest, and motivate the developer. Feedback would also help them improve the final game.

This is a wonderful idea and could also allow for more risk taking and new ideas. Sort of like how indie games do.

[Updator]

Nice idea. I'll be interested to see if something like this happens, it could work really well.

[Kuro]

Sounds cool. I'd still wait on a bundle of the eps though or a season pass.

[itachi73378]

Sounds cool. I'd still wait on a bundle of the eps though or a season pass.

This is mostly for publishers to take risks. Like for example, release some part of a jrpg. If it gets downloaded a lot then production can ramp up

[ps3freak18]

This is mostly for publishers to take risks. Like for example, release some part of a jrpg. If it gets downloaded a lot then production can ramp up

Yeah it could give devs the opportunity to test the waters of genres they usually dont touch.

[Kuro]

I can see that. A jrpg in parts that's good and leaves at a cliffhanger making people want more. That actually sounds pretty cool thinking about it.