After Hideo Kojima confirmed a new partnership with Xbox Game Studios for a “new type of game,” Kojima Productions has issued a statement to reiterate its independence as a studio.
That’s because the announcement set off a wave of reactions from across the Internet. Some of that is understandable as the high profile creative director has a long association with PlayStation, and it was PlayStation that first partnered with Kojima Productions to develop and publish Death Stranding. But the level of scorn and praise that the announcement has been met with appears to have necessitated a statement from the studio via its Twitter.
“As an independent creative studio, #KojimaProductions will continue pursuing work on creations for our fans,” begins a Twitter thread from the studio. “We will explore various possibilities with games, movies, and music through platforms that evolve with time and technology. We look forward to your continued support!”
The thread further added, “After the announcement of our partnership with Microsoft using the cloud technology, many people have asked us about our collaboration with SIE. Please be assured that we continue to have a very good partnership with PlayStation® as well.”
The statement seems to address fans of Hideo Kojima, Kojima Productions and their games who feel that his long history with Sony’s platform precludes any partnerships with other platforms like Xbox and implicitly, that PlayStation users are entitled to exclusive access to Kojima’s work.
It’s an incredibly odd stance to take as historically, Kojima has always sought out partnerships and alliances that prioritize his studio’s creative interests first, barring any contractual locks. Kojima has even gone so far as to change his mind regarding promised collaborations, to what appears to be the detriment of friendship.
Backlash notwithstanding, Kojima Productions is likely bound to continue developing titles for PlayStation. A Death Stranding sequel appears to be in development, if you can believe Norman Reedus who told Leo Magazine that they are, at the very least, at the early stages of development.
All this being said, signing a deal with Xbox to use their cloud technology doesn’t mean that Kojima has chosen Microsoft over Sony in the made up platform war that some people are obsessed with. Kojima’s mystery cloud tech-powered game coming to Xbox doesn’t rule out its appearance on PlayStation and other platforms, after all.
But for better or worse for fans of Kojima, Kojima Productions will do what’s best for Kojima Productions, regardless of who they sign deals with.