Kojima: Bigger budgets make authorship more difficult

Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima has explained why the increasing costs and technical prowess of the series could threaten its very content, and why the games need to tackle difficult subjects like sexual assault.

"I want to use a lot of technology, but as we use more technology we need more budget, and when you need more budget it's more difficult to put more authorship into [the game]; the relationship with the marketing department becomes more difficult," he said in a roundtable interview, reported by Gamasutra.

"So, as a creator it has become very difficult; the more technology we use, the more difficult [being creative] becomes."

Kojima is at promoting Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain. The franchise has recently faced controversy for its treatment of rape, after Ground Zeroes featured a recording that heavily implied acts of rape and child rape between Paz, Chico and Skull Face.

Kojima seemed to defend this decision with the argument that upsetting scenes such as these are key to the themes of the Metal Gear story.

"Certainly, what I'm trying to do is different from just shooting at zombies," Kojima explained.

"I'm trying to depict something, a very specific message about things that happened in history. I think that, just because I have a very specific theme I want to relate, there are things that I just cannot look away from and I need to depict."