Direct quote 1999
“after Policenauts I came to the conclusion that controlling everything myself wasn't necessarily a good thing. Because if everything has to ultimately pass through me, then my abilities—and limitations—become a bottleneck.”
What it documents
In 1999 Kojima said that after Policenauts he concluded that controlling everything himself was not necessarily a good thing, because if everything ultimately has to pass through him, his abilities—and limitations—become a bottleneck; he concluded that if he wanted to keep pursuing new, more expansive possibilities in gameplay he would need to be able to skillfully utilize the talents of programmers.
Source
shmuplations.com; Kojima interview in Nice Games (1999), unofficial English translation. View source ↗
“If I wanted to keep pursuing new, more expansive possibilities in gameplay, I would need to be able to skillfully utilize the talents of programmers.”