Ben-DutkaMetal Gear Rising: Revengeance was a highly entertaining spin-off. That much is definitely true.
And as for the idea of more spin-offs in the future, Metal Gear Solid guru Hideo Kojima isn't against the idea at all. In speaking to IGN , the legendary designer reflected on his successful collaboration with developer Platinum Games:
"Initially we thought this spin-off with Metal Gear Rising was kind of an exception; it was a new thing for us. But that said, it went remarkably well, and working with Platinum Games we were able to achieve a sort of synergy where the final product was greater than the sum of its parts."
Then Kojima was asked the million-dollar question: Would he be willing to let a Western studio work on a Metal Gear spin-off? After all, Platinum is still a Japanese development team. Here was Kojima's open-minded reply:
"You know, honestly it's not a matter of choosing a developer in Japan or in the West. It's not even an East versus West kind of thing. It's just finding somebody who can really understand the world and setting of Metal Gear. … You need to choose somebody who would understand the subtle nuances of the cultural aspects of the franchise. If we could find somebody who could understand that, who could handle it well, then that's definitely a possibility."
More and more Japanese developers are opting to work with Western designers these days, and some are straight-up outsourcing their projects to US and Europe-based studios. However, MGS without that patented Japanese flair somehow seems…wrong.