Once again, it’s time for your Kojima “grain of salt” moment. According to VentureBeat, the mind behind Death Stranding may be in talks with Microsoft to land a publishing deal for his next game (which may be of the horror persuasion).
This is a two-parter, actually. The recently-announced Abandoned by Blue Box Game Studio has a very P.T.-esque feel to it, leading to some to speculate that Kojima may be involved. That rumour was quickly squashed in an interview with IGN.
The studio also issued a statement, saying that the small studio has “no association with Hideo Kojima nor do we claim to have any association nor was it our intention to claim such a statement.”
This all leads into the next part, where VentureBeat sources have said that Kojima is the focus of a Microsoft plan to leverage Japanese talent. Though the article doesn’t reveal its sources, it also points to a recent interview with Xbox head Phil Spencer, where Spencer has a statue of Kojima Productions’ company icon and mascot Ludens sitting on his shelf next to the Xbox logo as a potential hint.
Perhaps this is more of an indication that Death Stranding will be coming to the Xbox One/Xbox Series, instead? We’ll see.
Death Stranding is currently out on PlayStation 4 and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store.