Kojima: Games dev auteurs a dying breed

Metal Gear Solid designer and industry icon Hideo Kojima has predicted that there is little future for auteur developers in the games industry.

Speaking at today’s Annual Games Lecture 2012 at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, Kojima was asked if he saw himself as an auteur.

"I guess you could say that yes, I could be considered an auteur," offered Kojima, speaking through a translator.

Kojima takes complete control over his titles’ gameplay, narrative, control scheme, presentation and just about every element of a Metal Gear Solid Game.

"But that said," he added, "I do think that that particular type of games creation is like indie film making. It is becoming more and more unusual."

Kojima suggested that, as team sizes and production models, timescales and budgets increase, there will be far less counterparts in the games industry to the famed auteurs of filmmaking, such as Alfred Hitchcock, James Cameron and Steven Spielburg.

"The video game auteur is a dying concept, and my generation are probably the last of those," he said.

Kojima also gave insight into his aspirations as a filmmaker, and his opinions on movies based on games.

"Originally I entered the games industry because I wasn’t able to enter the film industry," he revealed, later adding: "For now I haven’t managed to create that perfect interactive story, so I have a lot left to do with games."

He also insisted: "movies based on films have never been very good," stating that he could not name a single creatively worthy movie base on a game.

"That’s something I’m trying to remedy with the upcoming Metal Gear movie," he said.

Kojima also used some of his time on stage to criticise the lack of variety in contemporary video games.

"One thing I’m not really satisfied with is that so many games these days are too similar," Kojima stated.

"That’s not really very creative. But I do believe that games have something they can do that neither movies nor novels can do; a unique way of telling stories."

Kojima also joked that he has continued to focus on the Metal Gear series as, when he has suggested working on other IPs, those who bankroll his projects are less than keen to spend money.