Kojima originally envisioned Gray Fox as the star of Metal Gear Rising
Hideo Kojima's transition from game designer to game producer is one steeped in compromise, the Metal Gear mogul explained during a recent interview with IGN. Specifically, Kojima would have preferred that Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance star series mainstay cyborg ninja Gray Fox, rather than Raiden.
"It was my staff in Kojima Productions that insisted on Raiden, and I respected their idea," Kojima said. "In my personal opinion, I wanted to go for Frank Jaegar or Gray Fox. But if we had gone with that, I would have had to write the script and then be really committed to creating the game."
In the end, passing the torch of crafting Metal Gear's universe to the next generation of developers was of greater importance than ensuring Gray Fox as the star. "I want to pass game development to the younger generation in my team, and have been trying to do so for quite some time. Before I never could give complete responsibilities for other games, but for Revengeance, they are fully in control. Besides, if I had created the game and directed it, it wouldn't have been this game."
