So, this past month has been filled with crazy theories and conspiracies galore involving a small indie studio known as Blue Box Studios and Kojima Productions. So much so has gone on with that, people might have forgotten all the rumors about Hideo Kojima leading into this year. Without further Adu, I will try to make sense of all of this as best I can both rumors surrounding Kojima Productions. This includes a PlayStation exclusive Silent Hills and a potential deal with Microsoft.
Disclaimer – This information has not been verified, therefore this is not factual.
Last year there were rumors about a potential acquisition of Konami. These rumors came from multiple places, but since gamers want this to happen anyway that allowed them to grow. Basically, since Microsoft was acquiring several studios, and had voiced interest in purchasing a Japanese company, Konami was one of the first suggested that it might be. This ended up not happening, and these statements were walked back later that year.
During this time there was also speculation that Sony wanted to buy Konami as well. Since Sony had already created a partnership with Kojima the idea was they would purchase the company and then have Kojima work on Silent Hills, his canceled project from before he left Konami.
To explain this to gamers, just because a studio is not using its IPs does not mean they are up for grabs if the company is paid the right amount. Konami posted one of their most profitable quarters going into 2021 so it is not like they desperately need finances either.
Earlier this year, Phil Spencer did an interview in which both the Xbox logo and Ludens, the Kojima mascot, were placed next to each other in the background. This is something that Phil has been known for doing in the past so it seemed like a credible hint that we might see a collaboration of some kind.
However even by this E3 that has yet to materialize into anything substantial. Then came the Blue Box Studios fiasco. While more and more evidence is mounting pointing to Blue Box Studios is a small team that made a few stupid decisions in marketing, for a while it was believed to be a Kojima Project.
Back when Kojima was making Metal Gear Solid V he created a fake studio and even had an actor pretending to be the head of it, promote the game as The Phantom Pain. This, plus a tweet saying the real name of Blue Box Studios game Abandoned, was actually going to have a different name which started with the letter S and ended with L. You see where this is going I am sure.
While I will not go through everything that occurred, and all the crazy threads, that were connected, it looks like this is one rumor that can finally be laid to rest. But since this is the year of rumors about Kojima’s, when one ends another must crop up in its place.
This new rumor, or at least the clarification of an old rumor, actually concerns Hideo Kojima and his relation to Microsoft. A big part of the Blue Box studios rumor concerned the fact their game was first announced on the Playstation Blog. Since the footage was unpolished, featuring framerate dips, many thought that PlayStation allowed it onto the blog. This lead people to think it was part of some elaborate ruse by both Kojima and Sony. This theory holds very little weight if you remember that Life of Black Tiger is still, very much, a thing.
However, after the release of Death Stranding, rumors began suggesting that Kojima and Sony might have a parting of ways. It received divisive reviews despite decent sales. When the game was re-released for the PC however, those numbers dropped. Given Kojima’s reputation, Sony allowed a large amount of freedom on the project. While the game was not bad the marketing for it, which kept the project mysterious, ultimately hurt the game upon release.
Because of this, according to the rumor, Sony has backed away from future collaborations with Hideo Kojima, forcing him to turn elsewhere. Due to this, and thanks to Phil and his background, it has looked for some time that Kojima will be working with them on a future project. The nature of this partnership is still unknown, with only rumors to go by. However recently Jeff Grubb added fuel to the fire by briefly mentioning it on his podcast.
Though only briefly touched upon he stated that the two parties were in the process of finalizing the details of this partnership. The direct quote from Grubb states “it’s not gonna not get signed”. Like most rumors with Kojima and Konami, there are usually multiple conflicting rumors about what is happening.
Only time will tell where Hideo Kojima is going to end up. Wherever that may be he has a passionate fan base of people following his every move.
Source – Esportstalk
Source – Gamerant
Source – Reddit
Source – Jeff Grubb
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