“The key to all of it, is the live element. Video games are a form of media in which the developer tries to create an experience that will bring joy to the player. [...] But in doing so there's an element of compulsion, of the player merely re-tracing the path the developer has laid out in advance for them.”
In 2003 Kojima said he wanted to make a game that could only be played portably: if the player could go outside and, by moving, change their surroundings — the time, the temperature, the terrain — and those changes were reflected in the game, it would be an unprecedented experience. He said the key to all of it is the live element, and that while a video game normally forces the player to retrace the path the creator has laid out in advance, the success of online games comes from that feeling of being live, unpredictable and different depending on who you play with, and he wanted to bring that live fun to portable games.
“I wanted to bring that "live" fun to portable games, and create something where the environment, and even the very gameplay changes as you walk around. Boktai is one answer to that larger inquiry.”