Phil Harrison and Satoru Iwata have expressed the view that demand for expansive, epic titles like MGS4 is shrinking. What are your thoughts on that?

Kojima: I think that's not happening. Even if that is a fact, I still think that there are gamers who love these epic games or hardcore games because some people still really live with games, and really receive something from games, and I regard them as real gamers. Now, as long as these gamers exist I feel a responsibility that someone has to do it, to create these games, so I'm not really worried. Besides if I, or someone else, keep bringing out these epic games, it might change the flow of the industry; people might realise that these are really fun games. And time ever changes, and the flow or demand will change, but if you just look at the current trend, and you see it shrinking and you just stop, it will just become zero, so I don't think that is a wise decision to make.

There's a huge user difference. I could back this up with GTA IV, which is a smash hit, and Call of Duty 4 was a smash hit and this season, Gears of War 2 will also probably be a smash hit, so that is proof that there are still gamers out there waiting for these epic games, and I think that will continue. I'm not saying casual gaming is bad, I think that casual games will continue as well as a trend, which is also good. But I think these will coexist.

Of course, Grand Theft Auto and Final Fantasy used to be exclusive to the PlayStation, and now they're not. Do you think exclusivity is still important?

Kojima: I think it really depends on the title. With MGS4, there was a lot of thinking behind it when we were announcing the exclusive, season-wise and time-wise and Sony technology and hardware wise and so on. But our intention was, since we were always with the PlayStation for the Metal Gear series, I felt that the users also followed the PlayStation as well - I mean all the Metal Gear fans follow the PlayStation. So it was an obvious match to release MGS4 on the PS3. And if we decide PS3, why not optimise it to make the best of that hardware? That was our decision.
As I said, I think it really depends on the title.

Why do you think Metal Gear Solid sells so well in the West, compared to other Japanese-developed games that are vastly more popular in Japan?

Kojima: Honestly, I don't know! But if you want my answer that I personally think, I don't know if it's correct or wrong, but maybe it's because of my era - because of my age. When I was younger, what built me was always movies or novels or music from America or Europe. I didn't grow up on Japanese movies and television only, I absorbed so many TV programmes of American and Europe; that's what I watched. And the culture really came naturally to me when I was growing up, so when I have a game which is an output of myself, I feel that I put in more of that American or European essence that I absorbed when I was growing up. Maybe that is the reason why it sells more in Europe or America.

To give an example in my title, in MGS4 the main character is this old fogey, right? And he battles with a lot of old guys, and in Japan that would never ever sell. So this kind of sense that I have perhaps tingles the European or Western market more.