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Hideo Kojima: Moby Dick Studios ruse was to ‘energize’ the community, test the FOX Engine

 If you followed any of the mystery about Moby Dick Studios and their odd CEO Joakim Mogren, a question you probably have is why Hideo Kojima planned the whole ruse for Metal Gear Solid V. In an interview with GameTrailers’ Geoff Keighley, Kojima finally revealed why.

"There are several reasons for this. One is that I think core fans, myself included in this, wanted to do something really interesting in the social space. You know I think it’s been kind-of dull lately and we wanted to do something to energize the community," explained Kojima. "The second reason for doing this is we wanted to evaluate the FOX Engine. So we wanted to put the game out without revealing that it was Metal Gear Solid and just see how well it would do just based on the visuals of the FOX Engine."

Apparently, Kojima had been planning this strategy for several years. When asked if he was surprised how quickly fans figured a lot of the ruse out, Kojima replied, "Honestly, we knew people were going to know what it was, more or less, but we were surprised is that they were actually able to guess the exact title. We knew knew from the beginning that it wouldn’t be a secret – we wanted fans to realize it. It was kind-of service to the fans saying, ‘Hey, here’s the inside joke. We know that you know what it is, but just play along with it.’ We’re happy that fans did realize what it was and did play along with it."

Oh and Joakim Mogren? He’s a real Swedish person guy Kojima Productions hired and not a CGI character rendered in the FOX Engine.

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