“I want to do something new. But I saw so many people requesting it. And I was thinking, maybe I only have 10 years left. […] And we shook hands and that's how the partnership started.”
Kojima explained that he did not want to return to Metal Gear, which he considers part of his past and which belongs to Konami, but repeated requests from fans and a sense that he might have ten years left in his career led him to conceive a new action-espionage game. Shortly before retiring, Jim Ryan supported the idea, and the two agreed to begin Physint with a handshake.
“I get so many messages from people saying, "Please make another Metal Gear!" I wasn't really interested, because Metal Gear is the past. I want to do something new. But I saw so many people requesting it. And I was thinking, maybe I only have 10 years left. Of course, I can't make Metal Gear — that’s Konami’s IP. But I was thinking, "Okay, maybe I should create a new action espionage game." […] I was meeting with Jim Ryan, the former CEO of SIE. […] I was talking to him, and he said, "Oh, that's a great idea. Let's create a new action espionage game." And we shook hands and that's how the partnership started.”