Fans Convinced Sony Is About To Acquire Kojima Productions
Remember when Microsoft made the massive step of acquiring Activision Blizzard and blew the gaming world apart? It lit a fire underneath the console wars and spurred Sony into action to buy Bungie. Although the former Microsoft favourite now falls under the PlayStation banner, it's not quite on a level with Activision Blizzard. Still, it's left us questioning what's next.
After Sony boss Jim Ryan has promised more acquisitions are on the way, the next one could be a doozy. With everything from Demon's Souls' Bluepoint Games to Marvel's Spider-Man's Insomniac, The Last of Us' Naughty Dog to God of War's Sony Santa Monica, the PlayStation has an impressive roster of first-party developers. Dare we wish for the return of Hideo Kojima?
Is Sony Looking To Buy Kojima Productions?
Back in the day, Hideo Kojima was known as the golden boy of the PlayStation. His work on games like Metal Gear gave him his start, but years later, the arrival of Silent Hill in 1999 saw the gaming auteur become synonymous with Sony. He was once working on Silent Hills, and despite his public split from Konami, he returned to Sony for the divisive Death Stranding.
The idea of Sony gobbling Kojima Productions might sound rogue, but a recent update of the PlayStation banner has gamers looking to the future. As spotted on ResetEra, an updated banner has swapped PixelOpus' Concrete Genie for Death Stranding on the far-left side of the banner. It shouldn't be of note, however, Sony fanatics have pointed out that it's now the only title in the line-up that isn't from a Sony-exclusive studio.
Others quickly jumped on the bandwagon. Although it's a rumour we've heard 1,000 times before, it's back with a vengeance. One supporter wrote: "They wouldn't be adding death stranding to the banner unless they actually own the company since the banner only has games made by companies part of Playstation studios." Another added: "If this is the hyped up 'big acquisition' we expected, I’m kinda let down by this. Not saying that KP is bad but I’m not interested in Death Stranding at all. Now if it was Konami and Kojima merging as a Sony studio then that’ll be awesome."
Will Sony Acquire Kojima Productions?
Despite its critics, many pointed out that the exact same thing happened with banner promos when Sony acquired Bluepoint and Returnal's Housemarque. All of this goes against previous reports that we heard Sony ditched Kojima's next pitch for a game due to Death Stranding's underwhelming reception. Around this time, whispers claimed he was jumping ship to Xbox, but again, it never happened.
Others have pointed out that if Kojima Productions was up for sale, we likely would've heard or it would've been acquired by now. We'll have to wait and see whether there's more to it, but if Sony is updating its artwork, there's a chance the acquisition could be announced very soon. Sadly, Kojima Productions being acquired by Sony gets us no closer to someone getting off their backside and resurrecting Silent Hill. Oh well, we can only dream.