MGS5: The Boss, Cobras one of “several ideas,” says Kojima
Hideo Kojima has revealed one idea surrounding Metal Gear Solid 5 was a game based on The Boss and the Cobras from the landing of Normandy. [Spoilers for MGS3 and part of its ending are below the break]
Kojima, speaking in the vidoc just released for Metal Gear Rising, said he pitched his ideas to his development team during summer 2008, after Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots had shipped.
"Metal Gear Solid 4 wrapped up in 2008, and the dev team took post-project time off right after that. But, of course, we were in a situation where we had to start planning for MGS5. So I started coming up with several ideas," he said.
"I had several ideas for a game featuring The Boss and the Cobra Unit during the invasion of Normandy. I then handed these plans over to the team so they could take over and make the game. I presented my ideas to the team during the summer of 2008. However, simply dropping MGS5 on the younger staff members was a bit heavy and there was resistance to doing it without my involvement."
The Boss helped established the Cobra unit - The Pain, The Fear, The End, The Fury and The Sorrow - in the midst of World War II. It's mentioned towards the end of Metal Gear Solid 3 the unit was sent into Normandy on a top secret mission.
Whilst pitching his ideas for MGS5 towards his team, Kojima was working on a brand new project - he didn't say what that was, but we're guessing it's Project Ogre - but said there was "resistance" from the dev team taking charge due to a lack of direct involvement from him. It was from there Rising was proposed as a spin-off that put a lot less pressure for the development team, as opposed to MGS5.
"At the time, I was working on a new project. It was during the planning phase of that project and I wanted the staff to take charge of the new title," he said.
"There was resistance to that idea, though. It was then that someone proposed the idea for what would become Rising. It was a game based on Raiden's story, since MGS5 had too much weight to it. It would be a side story that the team felt more comfortable working with."
More can be found watching the video at the link above.