When Hideo Kojima first announced that he was making his own studio to launch his new IP Death Stranding, long-time fans of the dev were extremely excited to learn more. It seems that other studios are also in on that hype as Horizon Zero Dawn’s Guerrilla Games opens up about what it’s like collaborating with the new company.
Guerrilla technical director Michiel van der Leeuw recently sat down with the team over at The Next Web to talk about working with Kojima Productions and how much chemistry the two companies ended up having. The “intense” working relationship seems to be a dream come true as Leeuw reveals what it’s like behind the scenes:
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“Inventor types like us don’t just like to make things, we like to share them,” said the technical director. “Sharing makes you stronger. Sometimes you don’t get anything back but thanks – that’s also nice. But sometimes you find someone who’s on the same track, and it gives you all this creative energy. It’s all just code in the end, anyway: it’s the mindset of the maker that matters.”
He added, “We gave Kojima Productions the engine as a show of good Sony citizenship. They’d lost all their tech, it would have felt rude not to share. But we didn’t expect to have this much chemistry with a studio from the other side of the globe. Collaboration has been intense.
“We have similar priorities. How long to iterate, how to keep your code clean, where to prioritize efficiency, in what order gameplay elements should go. But in some ways, they’re also very different. For instance, they think photorealism is far more important than we do.”
Earlier this month, Guerrilla shared a series of tweets talking about how the demo they saw of Kojima Productions’ first IP left them “speechless.” Since that seems to be the general consensus for all that have seen the mysterious games, it’s hard not to get more than a little excited!
We still don’t have a release date yet for Death Stranding, though the game’s creator has hinted that a reveal will be coming soon.
Thoughts on the breakout Death Stranding title thus far and Kojima Productions? Join in on the conversation in the comment section below, or hit me up over on Twitter @DirtyEffinHippy!
