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Kojima highlights the gap between western and Japanese development styles

Metal Gear mastermind Hideo Kojima dropped some truth-bombs this week during an interview with Famitsu, as translated by 1UP. Speaking on the importance of world-wide success in the international market, he claimed that acceptance in foreign lands may not be as important as it once was, and that there is more to international success than a development team's nationality. According to Kojima, the key to global success is separation: if a development house wants western success, they should build a western team separate from their existing Japanese teams, complete with their own offices and culture-specific pay-scales.

He also cites cultural differences as a major roadblock for international success, explaining, "Japanese people might say 'Why space aliens?', but Americans will counter with 'What's with these games featuring these feminine-looking boys fighting in Japan with these huge swords?' It's no wonder the target audience for a lot of games is getting so compartmentalized."

Kojima hopes that Fox Engine, Kojima Productions' forthcoming multi-platform development environment, will help his studio develop new titles in a fashion similar to western developers. As long as he keeps putting snakes in boxes, we don't care what development style Kojima uses.