Talking as part of an in-depth interview published on Gamasutra today, Kojima Productions' Ryan Payton has revealed that there are over 200 developers working to complete Metal Gear Solid 4 for PlayStation 3, also commenting on the game's use of DualShock 3.
Discussing the eagerly awaited Metal Gear Solid franchise continuation, which was one of the most high-profile titles at the recent Tokyo Game Show, Payton noted:
"But the game is definitely under a lot of pressure, because the way things are turning out, this could be the first "must have" PlayStation 3 title on store shelves. Or, if not the first, then the second or the third. So, in that sense, there's a lot relying on it. People at Sony know that, and we've got literally 200 guys working on this title, day and night, making sure that it's perfect."
This means that Metal Gear Solid 4 sports one of the largest teams ever working in the same location on one game title - Payton clarified that these developers are all working on the PlayStation 3 title within the Kojima Productions division of Konami:
"We have that many in our group right now. We have over 200... we've been just beefing up the team as we got deeper and deeper into development. And then maybe after the game is finished, we'll get a little bit leaner and meaner."
Elsewhere in the interview, which also covers many of the design decisions and artistic sensibilities that are feeding into MGS4 as a title, Payton discusses the DualShock 3 feedback for the title, noting:
"This will be the premiere DualShock 3 supporting game coming out within the next six months. Gran Turismo 5 is, I'm sure, going to be impressive, but we've got some things that I can't talk about that people are going to really dig."
He also added, as part of the detailed Gamasutra interview, which was originally conducted at Tokyo Game Show this year:
"What's funny about the DualShock, though, I realized yesterday when some writers came in and I just placed the controller in their hands and had them play MGS4; for some reason it took them like ten or fifteen minutes to realize that the game had rumble. They would stop and say, "Oh! This -- you've got the DualShock 3!" And it's funny because you don't really realize it unless it's not there."
The full Gamasutra interview with Payton, posted on the site today, also includes a number of other notable revelations on the design decisions and artistic sensibilities that are going into the game.
