Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima might have just unexpectedly confirmed the release date for the hotly anticipated PlayStation 6, as hints surrounding his new game reveal further information.
We're still yet to actually get our hands on Kojima's latest game, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, but he's already talking about when the next title will release.
It's safe to say that Kojima is one of the gaming industry's biggest names, having created the iconic Metal Gear franchise and pioneered new gameplay approaches with Death Stranding, yet his future beyond the latter's sequel appears to be full of fresh ideas.
Both of Kojima's next two games - OD and Physint - have already been announced, and he's even branching out into other forms of media after the recent announcement that A24 is adapting Death Stranding into a film.
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While a special conversation with Fatih Akin is the primary reason why Kojima is living it up at the Cannes Film Festival this week, an interview conducted by Le Film Français has seemingly revealed further hints about the future of PlayStation's console lineup.
As reported by ComicBook.com, Kojima has outlined that Physint - one of the very few games already confirmed for PlayStation 6 - won't be arriving for a number of years now.
"I've had so many offers since I left Konami, with serious conditions to develop games in my independent studio," Kojima explained, as translated by ResetEra user Red Kong XIX. "Besides Death Stranding 2, there's also Physint in development. That will take me another five or six years."
That 'five or six year' period would take us up to around 2030 or 2031, and with previous suggestions that it would be a mid-generation release, it appears to suggest that we could see the launch of the PS6 in the next couple of years.
This lines up with previous console generations, which are roughly seven to eight years long, and Sony's decision last year to launch a 'Pro' version of the PS5 definitely signals that we're nearing the latter stages of this current console's lifespan.
For Kojima fans, though, there's certainly a lot to be excited for. During the game's announcement, the director revealed it as "a next generation action espionage game”, which will make any fan of the Metal Gear Solid series explode with excitement.
He also claimed that it will be the "culmination of my work" across 40+ years of game development, and with the enhanced power of the PS6 under his belt, there's little reason to believe that won't be the case.