Kojima Productions is allegedly in talks with Microsoft to publish their next game
Hideo Kojima is no stranger to pulling stunts to announce his games. He had an elaborate plan to create a fictional Swedish company, Moby Dick Studio, and used a bandaged actor to pose as the game director for an interview; all to tease a new game which turned out to be Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Similarly, he hid the real protagonist of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty from game trailers only for players to discover that they will be playing as Raiden for the majority of the game.
So when Abandoned was announced as a PS5-exclusive game from an unheard Dutch company with a fittingly dead (or shall we say, abandoned?) website, it wouldn't be surprising for fans to think that the game is actually being developed by Kojima Productions. However, since this theory erupted, Blue Box Studios' website rose from the ashes, writing that 'We will be right back!' and shared a post addressing the Kojima rumors:
This was corroborated by Jeff Grubb on Venture Beat who wrote that "the biggest piece of evidence I have that Abandoned is not a Kojima joint is that Kojima is in talks with Microsoft about publishing his next game, according to a source familiar with the matter". He also writes that Xbox's Phil Spencer hinted at this potential deal during a recent stream where he had a statue of Kojima Production's mascot, Ludens, next to the Xbox Logo.
Phil Spencer on stream, he has a Kojima Productions Ludens figure in the background apparently next to the Xbox logo pic.twitter.com/nept872D7n
— Wario64 (@Wario64) February 23, 2021
While it's not confirmed whether Xbox closed the deal yet, Jeff Grubb writes that "Kojima is the focus of a Microsoft plan to leverage Japanese talent". Of course, these news should be taken with more than a grain of salt but if it turns out to be true, it would be an interesting development since Hideo Kojima has favored PlayStation platforms for his games in the past. Maybe this potentially Xbox-exclusive game could be a timed exclusive like Death Stranding was which released on PCs less than a year after being available on PS4. Would you like to see an Xbox-first game from Kojima Productions?
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