Gaming icon Hideo Kojima, the creator of the Metal Gear series and Death Stranding, apparently came up with cross-save technology before the feature was actually available. The well-respected auteur is known for always pushing the boundaries of gaming technology, while also delivering bizarre and often confusing narratives. Kojima's titles have innovated by reading a console's memory card to scare players, requiring players to speak into a microphone to proceed and more. Support for cross-platform and cross-save progression has only appeared in the industry within the last decade or so, but Kojima claims that he had the idea before anyone else.

After serving as an assistant designer on a game called Penguin Adventure, Hideo Kojima made his directorial debut with 1987's Metal Gear. Widely considered to be the first true stealth game, the MSX2 computer game paved the way for both a long-running franchise and an incredibly popular game genre. Kojima worked on the series up until 2015's Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain, with each installment pushing the envelope of both technology and presentation. After leaving Konami in 2015 Kojima Productions created Death Stranding, a post-apocalyptic postman simulator starring Norman Reedus as Sam Bridges. The next Hideo Kojima game was teased during Summer Game Fest 2022, with the Xbox title apparently using Microsoft's cutting-edge cloud technology.

Related: How Hideo Kojima's New Game Can Use Xbox's Cloud Tech

Ever since the first Metal Gear, Hideo Kojima has been interested in taking full advantage of gaming technology's potential. The original Metal Gear Solid memorably reads the PlayStation console's memory card so that the telepathic Psycho Mantis can mention specific games that the player has experienced. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, meanwhile, lets players use the PlayStation 2's internal clock to skip The End's boss fight by waiting until he dies of old age. This focus on innovative technology is fully present in 2019's Death Stranding, too, which stars huge Hollywood actors like Norman Reedus, Mads Mikkelsen and Léa Seydoux via motion capture technology. Cloud technology will feature in Hideo Kojima's next horror game called Overdose, if rumors are to be believed, though few details have been revealed about the title.

Hideo Kojima Imagined Cross-Save Years Before It Was Realized

Xbox Smart Delivery Cross Save

Amongst his other ingenious ideas, Hideo Kojima (via Twitter) recently claimed that he had the idea for cross-saves before it became a common feature. The handy technology lets players transfer saves between different consoles, letting them continue progressing in a game wherever they choose to play it. Kojima apparently had this idea a decade ago, despite the fact that it really became popular in the later half of the 2010s. Kojima may have dreamed up the concept while developing Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, a portable installment in the tactical espionage action series created for the PlayStation Portable. In fact, the game did use a cross-save feature called "Transfarring" when it came to the PlayStation 3 in 2011.

Hideo Kojima is known for pushing the envelope of both technology and storytelling, a quality that earned him Japan's Award for Fine Arts back in March. While the feature did not become popular until years later, Kojima apparently came up with cross-save play as a way for players to experience a game both at home and on the go. With his next game set to use Xbox cloud technology, Hideo Kojima will no doubt continue to innovate and create wildly unique gaming experiences.

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Source: Hideo Kojima/Twitter