It’s a shame that creators need to justify game length, says developers

It’s a true shame that creators like Hideo Kojima need to justify the length of their games, Shadows of the Damned director Massimo Guarini said today on Twitter. Guarini now heads up independent studio Ovosonico and is working on Murasaki Baby for the PlayStation Vita.

When creators are forced to justify the length of a game, I think that’s one of the biggest failures of our industry

His comments, of course, are in reference to the controversy surrounding Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, which you can reportedly finish in one sitting for its main story.

Kojima Productions designer Jordan Amaro defended the game’s length earlier this week, saying the length of a title is not necessarily associated with quality. He cited games like Journey and Dear Esther as examples. The next day, Kojima himself responded to the drama, saying, «I believe people will be satisfied with the ‘play time’ of GZ and will not stress the ‘clear time.»

It’s not only the game’s length, but its price, that is getting some gamers riled up. Ground Zeroes will cost $20-$40 depending on your platform platform and delivery choice, which is well above the examples Amaro cited in defending Ground Zeroes. Ground Zeroes will cost $20 on Xbox 360 and PS3 for a digital copy and $30 on those platforms for a physical unit. On Xbox One and PS4, digital copies are going for $30, while physical copies will sell for $40.

The most impressive one to me so far has got to be ‘speed’. As a video game console, that’s the part the stood out to me the most for the PlayStation 4. We make games, so we want to make them fun, and we also put a lot of effort into making them as appealing as possible. In order to do that, we need hardware that can show ‘speed’.

Players can decide for themselves when Ground Zeroes launches on March 18. The game is a prequel to Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, which is said to be «hundreds of times larger» than Ground Zeroes. Konami hasn’t set a release date for that game yet, but it might not be until the end of 2015.

Another high-profile developer has spoken out to praise the technical ability of Sony’s PlayStation 4, which recently crossed 5.3 million units sold worldwide to date. This time, the glowing words come from Grasshopper Manufacture CEO Goichi Suda AKA Suda 51.

«When it comes to making games, having this ‘speed’ available as an ingredient really puts us at ease,» Suda added. «Even as we currently develop, we can really feel the response of having it available.»