The famous Japanese video game creator Hideo Kojima, known in particular for Metal Gear Solid and Death Stranding, has definitively put an end to recent rumors of acquisition of PlayStation.
Hideo Kojima who is the head of Kojima Productions is the author of the famous franchise Metal Gear Solid and the recent success Death Stranding, a game that changes the genres and arouses admiration or hatred.
After experiencing a difficult relationship with its parent company, Konami, Hideo Kojima has remained fiercely independent ever since.
But recently, we thought that had changed when he tweeted an image showing Death Stranding among a host of big games under the PlayStation Studios banner. Typically, this banner is only updated as the PlayStation Studios family grows.
I’m sorry for the misunderstanding, but KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS has been and will continue to be an independent studio. https://t.co/2M0n4ogRaa
— HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) April 15, 2022
Naturally, speculation quickly ran high and the first “Kojima Productions joins PlayStation Studios” announcements started to rain in.
In response to this general confusion, Kojima quickly explained himself. “I’m sorry for this misunderstanding.” he replied on Twitter. “But Kojima Productions has been and will remain an independent studio.”
But while Kojima has confirmed his desire to remain independent, he has remained silent on what the image might mean, or what the next steps are for his studio.
With major video game studios embarking on a wave of acquisitions recently, it’s no surprise that fans are skeptical of Kojima’s declaration of independence.
Acquisitions in the video game industry have only skyrocketed over the past few years.
As this graph from Statista shows, the past two years have seen five major acquisitions of small studios by big names in the industry, each for billions of dollars at a time.
So while Kojima says his team will remain independent for now, we all know things can change quickly in this industry.