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The story
According to a report from an overseas source, a rumor is making the rounds on 5ch’s Hardware/Industry board (Geha) claiming that Sony Interactive Entertainment repeatedly proposed acquiring Kojima Productions, but Hideo Kojima kept refusing — so Sony cut off funding. The reasoning given is that anything short of full exclusivity on the PS5 hardware itself, rather than just a timed exclusivity deal, wasn’t worth the investment. The thread mixed voices questioning Sony’s fixation on exclusivity with others praising Kojima Productions for holding firm on its independence, and the discussion expanded into comparisons with past exclusive titles and speculation about where future titles will end up.
What people said
William R. Aguilar
Sony/PlayStation has proposed acquiring Kojima Productions multiple times over the years, and Kojima has turned them down every time. Recently, Sony made another acquisition offer, which was again rejected — so funding is being cut off. The reasoning: anything short of full exclusivity on PlayStation hardware itself, as opposed to a mere "timed exclusive," wasn't judged worth the cost and risk.
Back in those days, Persona was still around too 😭
Probably because that's the kind of contract they made it under.
Re: #8
The whole reason they went independent was to hold onto the game's rights — that's exactly what they're doing. Going exclusive means handing over rights.
It wasn't that big a title anyway, and Elden Ring is multiplatform.
Overseas fans: "Hideooo! ♡ Hideooo! ♡"
But they don't actually buy the games.
Unlike Japanese users who buy a PS5 basically as an oversized smartphone, overseas users actually want a steady supply of buy-to-play games to play on it. If Sony turns around and tells people to buy an overpriced Xbox or a PC instead, for the very game they'd been looking forward to, some people are going to snap. And honestly, if Sony had been cranking out masterpieces on PS5 like Last of Us 1 or Ghost of Tsushima, would they be getting bashed this hard?
MS is pretty lax about this stuff these days — it's mostly just Game Pass priority, or the occasional timed console exclusive for indie titles.
It'll come out on PC. Under the current setup it doesn't look like it's coming to PS5, though.
Sony, which used to put even its first-party games on PC, suddenly did a 180 into lockdown mode. That's a total reversal from what was originally agreed.
It came out on Xbox too though?
Didn't know that. My bad.
Part 2 didn't come out on Xbox. And it's absurd to demand exclusivity when they're literally making OD (Kojima's Xbox-backed project) with Microsoft. It's like Sony bankrolled them saying "I'm not trying to tie you down," and then suddenly flipped to "don't you dare go have dinner with another guy!" lol
Then make your games with your own money.
Landing a patron is a skill in itself, you know? He's definitely thinking that. And in fact, he's already landed Microsoft, at least for now.
Then getting cut loose is also down to (a lack of) skill, so that's just how it goes.
He found a new patron, so maybe that's a talent too. Though it looks like the old patron's getting frozen out.
Problem is, PS6 is going in the trash can right along with it lol
Then Nintendo should've just scooped him up.
He used really harsh language reacting to the disc-drive discontinuation announcement — looking back, people are saying that's probably when it had already happened.
It's still at the planning stage — barely anything's been made yet.
That just shows how much PlayStation's value as a platform holder has dropped.
At least it stops the bleeding going forward. And besides, Sony offered both a buyout and an exclusivity deal — it was Kojima's side that turned it down. In the end PHYSINT will probably still come out on PS too.
https://x.com/HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN/status/1514844190819373056
"Sorry for any confusion this may have caused, but KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS has always been, and will continue to be, an independent studio."
This is exactly why it comes to "fine, we're just taking full ownership of the Death Stranding IP ourselves."
The sensible users out there are saying, "Great, now it'll come to Steam too."
Background and key points of this discussion
When Kojima Productions became independent from Konami in 2015, it received financial backing from Sony to develop the “Death Stranding” series for PS4/PS5. At the same time, Hideo Kojima has repeatedly stated that the studio “will remain independent,” maintaining a stance of preserving management freedom even while accepting outside investment. In recent years, as game development costs have soared, publishers have grown much stricter about demanding a return on investment commensurate with exclusivity deals, and this rumor appears to fit that broader trend. That said, this information comes from a leak by an overseas source, and neither Sony nor Kojima Productions has issued any official statement — so it should be treated with appropriate caution.
*This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Hardware/Industry (Geha)) thread “[Rumor Leak] Sony Cut Ties with Kojima After He Refused the Buyout — Because Sony Wasn’t Getting Full Exclusivity, Just a Big Bill.”
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