Rumor mill has it that Hideo Kojima and Microsoft are in talks to publish Kojima Productions‘ next title, but there’s no confirmation of a deal being closed as of yet.
This report came from journalist and insider Jeff Grubb of VentureBeat, who corroborated theories that the appearance of Ludens figurine in a Phil Spencer video was teasing a potential exclusivity deal. Microsoft has teased several announcements similarly in the past.
Interestingly, what sparked Grubb’s report was the rumor that Kojima is somehow involved in the recently-announced PlayStation 5 exclusive, Abandoned. We’re not sure where this rumor came from, but Blue Box took to its website to clarify that it has no association with Kojima. Its statement reads:
We received several emails regarding the Hideo Kojima rumor. We have no association with Hideo Kojima nor do we claim to have any association nor was it our intention to claim such a statement. We are a small group of developers working on a passionate title we wanted to work on for a long time. We have been assisting other studios in the past with their projects and we wanted to work on our very first big project. While it is true that we’ve been working on small projects in the past, we certainly didn’t use that for marketing purposes. We hope this has clarified this matter and hope to see you all in our very first gameplay reveal of Abandoned.
According to Grubb, Microsoft pursuing a deal with Kojima is part of the company’s efforts to recruit Japanese talent.
[Source: VentureBeat, Blue Box]