Wouldn’t you be, too?
[Image: Kaizerkunkun]
Late last year, Hideo Kojima set up shop once again and announced that he was working on a new title. Only this past March, he worked on the Death Stranding teaser starring Norman Reedus. But he was worried info would spill out.
In the most recent HideoTube on YouTube, Kojima talked about E3 leaks and how he didn’t even tell Low Roar, the band whose track “I’ll Keep Coming” appeared in the Death Stranding teaser, what the game was about. The group only knew their music would be appearing in a PlayStation title and guess what it might be after seeing a Kojima Productions teaser that read, “I’ll Keep Coming.” The band finally learned that it was Death Stranding while watching Sony’s E3 press conference.
“So every single year, there are leaks before E3,” Kojima said. “No matter how careful we are, in this era, something always makes its way to the internet.”
“Up until this year at least half of our stuff has been leaked,” Kojima continued. This time Kojima wanted the announcement to be a surprise. “So, we didn’t let more than five people at Sony know about it. We kept it extremely secret.”
Even with that small circle, concerns remained. “As E3 was getting close, many other titles were getting leaked,” Kojima said. The team wondered if their game would be next. “We were nervous and could barely sleep.”
Kojima, an active Twitter user, said he couldn’t even tweet that he was going to E3. Kojima even went as far as staying at a Los Angeles hotel that was further from the action at E3 so he wouldn’t be spotted. When people did happen to see him and ask for photos, he declined, worrying that his photo would appear online and that people would know he was in L.A. for E3.
The day of the rehearsal, Kojima snuck in a backdoor so he wouldn’t be spotted and waited in a different area backstage. “Even when going to the bathroom, I had to go to a separate restroom,” he said. But after doing an interview with Geoff Keighley, it became clear that Kojima was in L.A. for E3. When Kojima finally did reveal the game, it ended up being on of E3’s biggest surprises.
Comments
5 responses to “Hideo Kojima Was So Worried About E3 Leaks”
Then don’t fucking announce it. This didn’t need to be at E3 until 2019. They don’t even have an engine and they announce the game. Expect this to not come out until 2020 and we’ll have a bunch of stories like ‘What happened to that Kojima game?’
I kind of agree. I don’t see the point in the whole hush hush of this when he’s been dangling it in front of us since he left Konami. The teaser itself is cryptic as hell. I don’t even understand the hype that is Kojima games.. If I wanted to watch a cinematic cutscene for half the game, I’d watch a damn movie.
True its way too early, but Kojima needs to show the industry and the fans he has bounced back. But he is a bit paranoid about the leaks if he didnt tell people close to the project anything about Normans ass.
We got a title, a confirmation Reetus is the protag, that his butt is in it… and the rest of its going to be wierd.
Because then investors can see how well his new project is going and can invest in Kojima’s new company. It’s not all about players all the time.
100% agree. People seem to forget or cant comprehend that E3 isnt a gamers event. its a press/pr/investor event.
Its a hard thing to balance though.
You can either keep everything close to your chest but then no one knows / cares that your doing something or you can release info but risk over exposure.
In this digital era, if people want to find out something they generally will even if it means breaking the law, Im not a fan of leaks because I generally want to experience a game for the first time as the developers intended.
Same goes for betas and alphas for me, I really dont want to play a game that isnt finished because it takes away the full experience for playing it for the first time.
This is what I find Kojima does well, He lets people know that he’s working on a project and gives you a glimpse to validate direction, then I just keep tabs to find release dates so I know when to get ready