Kojima and Konami "Should Kiss and Make Up," Says Top EA Exec

Games development visionary Hideo Kojima and his employer Konami should restore their fractured relationship for the good of both parties, a key executive at rival publisher Electronic Arts has said.

Peter Moore, the chief operating officer at EA, was asked in an interview with GameSpot whether he was interested in signing Kojima, amid speculation that the renowned games developer's three-decade business relationship with Konami will end after the release of Metal Gear Solid V.

"I've always liked Kojima-san. I got on with him during my days at Microsoft. I just think... what's going on there... I just think both of them should kiss and make up," Moore replied.

"From my experience, and I've spent a lot of time working in Japan, I think that Konami and Kojima will figure it out. Those kinds of business relationships [in Japan] are typically for life, and Kojima is such an important part in what has gone on there."

Recently, Electronic Arts has hired several notable developers to lead its projects. In April last year, the publisher announced that Uncharted writer Amy Hennig had joined EA studio Visceral to work on a new Star Wars game. In July this year, the corporation announced that it had hired Assassin's Creed co-creator Jade Raymond, to lead a new EA studio based in Montreal.

But Moore suggested EA wasn't going to aggressively poach key talent such as Kojima, but instead keep an open-mind should any opportunity come his way. He also added that Kojima is not alone in being a visionary auteur with big ambitions that can potentially lead to milestone and budget problems.

"Clearly, Kojima and Konami are at a rocky stage in their marriage," he said, "but you could take what is said about [Kojima Productions], about a game not adhering to budgets, about a game not being ready, and you could apply that to a lot of people."

He continued: "Any game that isn't iterative in nature the way an EA Sports game is, or any series that doesn't ship every single year... those things can go on forever. There needs to be an agreement between the publisher and developer to make sure that both parties understand when the game is supposed to ship, and what it's supposed to be.

But with regards to Kojima and Konami, they'll kiss and make up. They'll be fine."

Elsewhere in his interview with GameSpot, Moore discusses on-disc DLC conspiracy theories, his views on the lack of single-player in Star Wars Battlefront, and why annually updating EA Sports via download-as opposed to selling boxes each year--would be "nirvana".