Hideo Kojima’s Kojima Productions is not going to be a part of Sony Interactive Entertainment or part of PlayStation Studios, leading many fans to speculate that the appearance of Death Stranding in this new portrait hints at a potential acquisition. With the PlayStation Studios logo at the center of the updated PlayStation Studios banner, many believed that Kojima Productions would be acquired by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Interestingly though, Sony has yet to add Haven Studios to the new banner it acquired earlier this year.
While it now appears that Hideo Kojima’s studio won’t be acquired by PlayStation Studios, as per a tweet by the man himself, another tweet doesn’t rule him out entirely. Industry insider Jeff Grubb said the confirmation is unrelated to the potential acquisition but adds another wrinkle to the rumor’s resurgence. Sony Kojima Productions has “dismissed” these reports, updating its Twitter profile and website to confirm that it will remain an independent studio.
Death Stranding stands out from other Sony studio titles, leading to speculation that Sony Kojima Productions will be the company’s next big acquisition, prompting a reaction from Hideo Kojima himself. Even though Death Stranding is a PlayStation exclusive, many people were surprised because all the other games on the list were made by a PlayStation-owned studio. The image below has sparked rumors that Kojima Productions, the company behind Death Stranding, has been acquired by Sony, adding Kojima Productions to PlayStation Studios. At the presentation of E3 PlayStation 2015, Hideo Kojima presented his studio along with the PlayStation, and Death Stranding used a variant of the Guerrilla Games Decima Engine.
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
Hideo Kojima’s covered it all up with a tweet saying his video game studio would remain independent. Given the aforementioned chain of events that led to the acquisition, some still believe that the relationship between Kojima Productions and Sony is about to change. After a massive merger in the video game space, Kojima Productions is certainly a smaller deal compared to the likes of Activision Blizzard, which Microsoft bought for $69 billion, earlier this year. Like Microsoft, Sony has also been making some moves in the Gaming space by taking over legacy studios. It was also announced in January that PlayStation Studios intends to acquire Bungie, the creator of Halo, in a $3.6 billion deal, but it is said that after the deal is completed, Bungie will become an independent subsidiary of the company and will remain a cross-platform studio.
