TOKYO, July 29 — Famed manga artist and writer Junji Ito has clarified rumours of his possible involvement in a Hideo Kojima horror game project.
Following an interview given during Comic-Con@Home, Junji Ito has clarified the nature of his involvement in a potential horror game from Hideo Kojima, director of Death Stranding and the bulk of the Metal Gear franchise.
“In a past interview, I said casually that I received an offer from Mr. Kojima,” he wrote on Twitter (as translated by fellow Twitter user eigogamejikkyo).
“In reality, it was a remark made at a party where he said, ‘If there is an opportunity, I may ask for your help’,” he continued.
“I apologise to Mr. Kojima and all of the fans to whom I may have given false hope,” Ito wrote.
The first statement was given during an interview hosted by his US publisher, Viz Media.
Asked whether he was involved in developing another video game, Ito said (via translator) at the time that “the simple answer’s no”, but divulged that he does “know director Kojima and we have been in conversation that he might have a horror-based game that he might be doing, and so he has invited me to work on that — but there’s no details on it yet.”
“In a past interview, I said casually that I received an offer from Mr. Kojima, but in reality, it was a remark made at a party where he said, “If there is an opportunity, I may ask for your help”. I apologize to Mr. Kojima and all of the fans to whom I may have given false hope. https://t.co/DizN3WqJWI
— みっちー・バイリンガルゲーム実況 (@eigogamejikkyo) July 27, 2020
Ito made one of many cameo appearances in Kojima’s Death Stranding, a post-apocalyptic, society-rebuilding, package-delivering adventure released in 2019 for PlayStation 4 and in 2020 for Windows PC.
In November 2019, around the debut of Death Stranding, Kojima had expressed interest in the horror genre, which he had experimented with in the influential 2014 PlayStation 4 experience PT.
Ito had been approached for PT’s intended sequel, Silent Hills, in a co-development context, but the project was cancelled. — AFP-Relaxnews
