Kojima: '2009 Will be a Year of Change' (PS3)

Hideo Kojima has indicated that his studio will reorient itself in order to better compete on a global scale in 2009. While his most recent game, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots was successful globally, some complained that the game lacked features that had been taken for granted in other, Western titles.

"We're currently reviewing everything - from the team structure to tools and our staff - in order to make Kojima Productions a team that can challenge foreign creators and software houses," he told Famitsu, translated by Develop. "So, because of that, 2009 is going to be a very important year for us."

"I've come to understand that the way we've made games up until now won't translate globally, and I've come to think that I need to make Kojima Productions a team that can compete alongside the rest of the world," he continued.

"I've thought a lot about how Western games have been winning, looking it from a global perspective, and there are things that I've noticed. So 2009 will be a year of change, a year where we start from zero again," commented Kojima, mirroring his earlier claims that Japanese developers had fallen behind their Western counterparts.

"With games, you've got to use cutting-edge techniques, and doing so costs money - so I don't think you can make games that just appeal to the Japanese market. So, 2009 will see us continuing to think how to create a team that can take on the world," he concluded.