Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima and Vince Zampella, co-creator of the Call of Duty, Infinity Ward, and Respawn Entertainment, apparently discussed an “FPS version of Metal Gear” sometime after Metal Gear Solid 4 came out.
This comes from Kojima himself, speaking via pre-recorded video at the DICE Summit 2026 in Las Vegas in a tribute to Zampella, who passed away in December at the age of 55. As a part of the conference’s keynotes, industry luminaries including Kojima, Phil Spencer, Geoff Keighley, Todd Howard, Laura Miele, and others spoke at length about Zampella’s contributions to the industry as well as their personal relationships with him.
Kojima appeared several times in the video to speak about Zampella. In one of his segments, he said, “I’ve kept this quiet for a long time but after Metal Gear Solid 4 came out, we actually talked about making an FPS version of Metal Gear.”
Kojima continued, saying that he and Zampella spoke about it, but the game never happened. Zampella went on to found Respawn, but even though they didn’t make a Metal Gear together, Kojima says Zampella gave him a lot of advice and support when he left Konami. Kojima even apparently incorporated some aspects of what he saw at Respawn into his own studio, Kojima Productions.
Zampella’s sudden passing rattled much of the industry, as he was beloved by many throughout his lengthy career across multiple studios and projects. In addition to co-creating Call of Duty and the studio behind it, Infinity Ward, Zampella also founded Respawn Entertainment, which created hits such as Titanfall, Titanfall 2, Apex Legends, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. His final gaming contribution was as director of the recently-released Battlefield 6.
Earlier, we covered other remarks from Zampella’s peers made at DICE, including comments from Keighley, Spencer, and more. As Kojima concluded, “I hope people will look to Vince as a model and aim high.”
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
Image credit: Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images
