Earlier this year, rumours emerged that Hideo Kojima and his studio Kojima Productions were in talks with Microsoft for developing an Xbox-exclusive title. While those rumours haven’t really gone away in the months since then, there hasn’t been much development on that front either- though that could change soon enough.
In a recent podcast, GamesBeat’s Jeff Grubb – who first broke the aforementioned story – was asked about the Xbox-Kojima deal, to which Grubb replied that the deal is close to being completed, and is now at a stage where it’s no longer likely that it will fall through. Meanwhile, Grubb also stated that Xbox recently recruited former Portal and Left 4 Dead developer Kim Swift as a senior director in the Xbox Cloud Gaming team specifically to work with Kojima on his next game.
“Kim Swift, who’s worked on Portal and Left 4 Dead, and she’s been at [Google] Stadia working as, like, their chief creative person, she’s coming in specifically to work with Kojima on his game,” Grubb said (via Pure Xbox). “[Xbox] didn’t say Kojima, it said in the story it’s about working with independent developers, [but] it’s Kojima.”
“It’s close [to being signed]. It’s at a point where, I think, it’s not going to not get signed. They are just figuring out details basically. And I’ll have more to say about that soon.”
As is always the case with any unverified report, it’s best to take this with a grain of salt for now, even though Grubb’s track record with unannounced details and leaks certainly speaks for itself.
Not longer after news of Kojima’s purported deal with Xbox emerged, a report claimed that he had initially gone to Sony for his next game, who turned him down. Even so, with Death Stranding Director’s Cut coming to the PS5, PlayStation fans still have Kojima content to look forward to.