OXM Reports, Kojima Productions creative producer Yuji Korekado has confessed that he was reluctant to relinquish control of the Metal Gear Rising project to Bayonetta developer PlatinumGames, but now feels the handover is for the best.

First conceived in 2008, Rising underwent a troubled development as junior staffers struggled to function in the absence of series creator Hideo Kojima. The project was put on indefinite hold in 2010, only to be reannounced as a collaboration with Platinum in 2011. “When Kojima Productions decided to send the game to Platinum, it was definitely a dark period,” Korekado told OXM. “People had put a lot of effort in, and they were in a dark hole.