Following the release of Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Hideo Kojima seemed eager to reset. He spoke about wanting a fresh start—a chance to build something outside of Metal Gear, maybe even a return to the story-heavy adventure games of his early days. For fans, this came as a surprise; suddenly, there were rumors of a collaboration with Science Adventure creator Chiyomaru Shikura. This might sound like just a rumor, but it really happened. In 2010, Hideo Kojima met with Chiyomaru Shikura and Goichi Suda (aka Suda51) to talk about a future collaborative project. Let’s take a look at what happened. You can watch the video, or read the article below.
Hideo Kojima needs no introduction; he is one of the most influential game creators ever, the creator of the Metal Gear series and, recently, Death Stranding. Goichi Suda is the founder of Grasshopper Manufacture, a Japanese gaming studio famous for the Silver Case and the No More Heroes series.
News about the project started circulating back in May 2010, when all three creators met and Shikura tweeted a picture of them, saying they would be working together on a new project. This did not break Western news back then, since Western media wasn’t really looking at Shikura’s profile. This was 2010—before the Steins;Gate anime aired—so Shikura and his company, 5pb. (now MAGES.), were virtually unknown outside of Japan.
In July, a Japanese gaming website, 4gamer, interviewed Shikura and asked him if he could share more news on this new project. When this interview released in Japan, Western outlets IGN and Kotaku ran short news posts summarizing it. You can check out this news article from IGN or this one from Kotaku.
In the original interview, Shikura did not provide any more concrete details. He said that he was working on the third entry in the Science Adventure series (which would eventually become Robotics;Notes) and then a separate project with Kojima. He also did not mention Goichi Suda, so it seemed that the latter had left the project. The interview itself is quite interesting, and we’d highly recommend giving it a read.
Then, no one heard about the project ever again. And for good reasons—Shikura was busy restructuring 5pb., which would eventually lead to the creation of MAGES. The company was also working on several projects at that time, most notably Robotics;Notes.
Kojima also had little free time. His team under Konami were working on a new Metal Gear title called Metal Gear Solid: Rising. Its development wasn’t going well for many reasons. This was also the point in time when Kojima’s relationship with Konami’s management started to worsen. Also at this point, internal talks had begun about a fifth mainline Metal Gear Solid game, which Kojima would be involved in.
Then, in 2011, Shikura was invited onto a podcast hosted by Kojima. During the podcast, Kojima noted that he was a producer for the new title they would be working on, and that an anime adaptation was also planned. Shikura said that 5pb. was in the middle of production for Robotics;Notes, and that it and the collaborative project with Kojima would both be released the next year. Kojima also mentioned in the podcast that Shikura had made two requests for the story: the first request was for the lead character to be a second-year high school student; the second request, Kojima said, was something the two creators couldn’t reveal yet.
This podcast, which unfortunately seems to be lost to time, was the last time anyone publicly heard about the collaborative project. So what happened to it?
In 2011, two major things occurred, both of which most likely led to the collaborative project being shelved. For Shikura, it was the airing of the Steins;Gate anime, which instantly became a hit. Many Steins;Gate-related side projects were announced as a result to capitalize on the title’s new popularity. While this was ongoing, 5pb. was still going through restructuring.
For Kojima, the development of Metal Gear Solid: Rising went so badly that the original idea was canceled, and work started on a much less ambitious game with Platinum Games, who would help with the development. This would later turn out to be Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. While this was ongoing, Kojima also got on board for the fifth Metal Gear Solid game, despite his deteriorating relationship with Konami. This would result in the release of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain in 2015—and in Kojima leaving Konami.
So the simple answer is that, in all likelihood, neither creator had the time to launch a new IP, as they were both busy with their own IPs and companies. It also seems that Western media magnified the news quite a bit.
It is entirely possible that Kojima and Shikura met, talked, got an idea about a game they could make together, but never made any concrete plans. The media then magnified the news by saying that a new Kojima game was under development, when in actuality all that probably happened was that Shikura and Kojima went out for dinner and had a great conversation. Neither creator mentioned a name for the game, or even a genre—just that it would be an adventure game. Some Western articles expressed confusion over who 5pb. even was, like this Kotaku article that claims 5pb. is only known for ports of erotic games and dating simulators.
So why would Kojima collaborate with Shikura? Now this is purely speculation on our side, but we think there are good reasons why a world-famous game developer would work with Shikura. At that time, 5pb. was one of the few Japanese developers who developed games primarily for Xbox, and Shikura was a well-known supporter of the platform. Kojima was always interested in developing for Xbox, despite his career being made on PlayStation. It would make sense that his “other” project outside Metal Gear, then chiefly developed for PlayStation, would be on Xbox.
Another good reason to collaborate with Shikura would have been Steins;Gate. 5pb. proved that they could release a very well-received visual novel and follow it up with one of the most popular anime ever, both in Japan and the West. This is probably the reason why both Kojima and Shikura said they would follow their game up with its own anime adaptation.
Neither of them ever hinted what the collaborative project was about, so we can only speculate. Fans back then did not speculate much; while some Japanese fans guessed that Kojima had something to do with Robotics;Notes, given it was about robots, no concrete theories ever surfaced.
As we mentioned, both most likely just met and had a productive discussion, which then never led to any concrete plans. The time in which they met was also not so advantageous, as both were busy with other projects. It is also highly unlikely that Kojima and Shikura will ever return to this project. MAGES. found its niche with SciADV and other series like Memories Off, and it seems they want to focus on their already-known IPs. For Kojima, after founding Kojima Productions, he finally has the freedom to work on whichever project he wants. If he wanted to return to this idea, he would likely have done so by now. He still has aspirations to publish a game chiefly on Xbox, though, which seems to finally be happening, with his upcoming “OD” supposedly being an Xbox exclusive.
In the end, this collaboration remains one of many intriguing moments in gaming history, a project born from a meeting of creative minds but ultimately swallowed up by timing, circumstance, and the demands of larger franchises. With both creators having since moved in new directions, the chances of this idea resurfacing are virtually nonexistent, but the story still offers a fascinating glimpse into an unlikely partnership that almost was.
