The popularity of mobile and social games has eaten away at the interest young people have in AAA games, according to Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima. Speaking with GamesTM, Kojima said this trend is especially pronounced in his home country of Japan.

　　"We've seen a phenomenon around the world," Kojima said. "Young people are losing interest in high-end games and focusing on mobile and social titles, especially in Japan."

　　Kojima said part of his vision for the two-part Metal Gear Solid V was to show people that "high-end" games are still worth playing and that "big Japanese games still have a future."

　　Also in the interview, Kojima explained the reasoning behind releasing Metal Gear Solid V in two parts: Ground Zeroes this month and The Phantom Pain sometime later.

　　"I'll be honest, [splitting MGSV up] wasn't necessarily a strategic move," he said. "The Phantom Pain is roughly 200 times bigger than Ground Zeroes. A game that big wouldn't be ready for next-gen launch windows, and we didn't have any Japanese titles that would be available. At that time, the Ground Zeroes portion was almost complete and a lot of fans were asking for a prologue, so that’s the decision we came to. That was the reasoning behind the move."

　　Ground Zeroes launches on March 18 for Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation 4, while The Phantom Pain isn't expected until 2015 or potentially later. Publisher Konami recently cut the price of the Xbox One and PS4 digital versions of Ground Zeroes from $40 to $30.

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