Sony seems to have teased an interesting hint for fans of gaming legend, Hideo Kojima. However, the hint appears to be so obscure that extrapolating any legible information from this could seem like a bit of a stretch. Nevertheless, if the move does pan out, it could turn out to be a major moment for the gaming world. The case in point relates to rumours around Kojima Studios, the eponymous game production house owned by Kojima himself, being acquired by Sony to become a part of its PlayStation Studios. The source of the rumour is the appearance of Death Stranding, Kojima Productions’ first and only independent game until date, on the PlayStation Studios banner.
Sony and Kojima Studios: What Could the Deal Mean?
Kojima has long been regarded as a legendary figure in the world of game developers. Having joined Japanese video game company Konami in 1986, rose to popularity due to his work on the iconic Konami franchise, Metal Gear Solid. Kojima left Konami in 2015 to setup his own game studio, called Kojima Productions.
The latter, in fact, was part of Konami for about 10 years until Kojima went solo. Death Stranding is the first product of the game studio. While Sony did serve as a publisher for the game through Sony Interactive Entertainment, the game remains a third-party title for Sony, since it was developed by an independent studio outside of the Sony ecosystem.
The PlayStation Studios banner, which is regularly updated on its website, showcases still snippets from a number of games under the production and publishing house. The key factor behind each of these showcased snippets happens to be the fact that they are all first-party Sony titles. This means that they are all built and developed by studios that are owned by Sony, and Kojima Productions is not.
This has therefore sparked speculations among ardent followers of this space that Sony has indeed acquired Kojima Productions, and an official announcement on this should follow, soon. However, Sony has remained tight lipped about any significance behind the update to its banner, and Kojima Productions hasn’t issued any statement on this, either.
While an acquisition statement could be released any moment, fans have speculated about Sony acquiring Kojima Productions for a while. However, many have posed a counter argument by stating that if the acquisition was to happen, word around Kojima Productions being up for sale should have gone around for much longer. Kojima has also had a close relationship with Sony for a long time, making games for its PlayStation ecosystem for a while. As a result, a good deal between the two cannot really be ruled out.
However, rumours also started circulating in late last year that Kojima had begun work with Microsoft, for an Xbox-exclusive cloud gaming title. The rumours had led to fan petitions attempting to stop Kojima from working with Microsoft, but most reports have stated that talks between the two have only extended to a letter of intent – and nothing more.
Sony’s acquisition of Kojima Productions could interject any such plans, the details of which are still unclear. For Sony’s PlayStation Studios, getting Kojima onboard could be a sign of intent in getting big gaming names onboard, after Microsoft acquired Bethesda as well as Activision in the past one year.
Going forward, it therefore remains to be seen what the PlayStation Studios banner update means. It could well mean absolutely nothing – Sony might just have decided to include titles that it has published, and not only produced. But, about Kojima Productions acquisition, a word on the matter should surface soon.
