Game creator Hideo Kojima revealed in an interview with IGN Japan that Sony has not reached out to him even once since terminating their contract. He says no reason was given for the cancellation either, recalling that he was informed of the final decision at a meeting in June. The 5ch thread sparked by these comments buzzed with speculation about the reasons behind the split — from the sales performance of the Death Stranding series to Sony’s strategy of prioritizing its first-party studios — with some pointing out parallels to other creators who’ve drifted away from PlayStation, such as Hironobu Sakaguchi and Toshihiro Nagoshi.
――You mentioned Sony didn’t explain the reason for the cancellation. Has there been any explanation since then?
No, none at all. I haven’t heard from them once since then. But I’m not fighting with Sony. We’re not at odds. What I want to say is just that we worked together for 30 years and built this relationship. So if this was going to be the conclusion, I wish I’d heard about it a little sooner. But at that meeting in June, they just gave us the final notice.
Like I said, my mind went blank, so I didn’t ask many questions. What was on my mind instead was, “What am I going to do with my company?” That’s what was going through my head at the time. I’ve always been a huge fan of Sony. I’ve used Walkmans forever, and all my cameras are Sony too. So I have no bad feelings toward Sony whatsoever.
Source: jp.ign.com / Original article here
Kojima Productions has to pay a penalty fee, right?
If it's a contract you can walk away from anytime, there's no penalty fee.
Idiot.
A deal either side can unilaterally cancel anytime with zero risk isn't even a contract to begin with.
A contract either side can unilaterally cancel anytime isn't really a contract, is it?
Sony would've handled this more decently.
That's basically what it comes down to.
>If they cared about the future relationship at all,
>Sony would've handled this more decently.
The same Sony that spitefully refused to fund TGS (Tokyo Game Show)? 'Decent handling'?
It's actually 'Sh*ny' (a mocking nickname for Sony) whose reputation is tanking.
They blew 50 billion yen on the flop that was Wolverine, spent 600 billion yen buying Bungie only to sink Marathon, dumped money into Concord, wasted cash on the 'GOW wife' and 'Space Baldy' (mocking nicknames tied to Sony projects/figures), and kept funding that garbage Horizon Online —
literally every single thing they've made is a dud 🤭
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Kojima Productions (official statement): "Our relationship with PlayStation remains as strong as ever"
Textbook doublespeak.
The Kojima Productions rep wants to stay on good terms with everyone.
'Koji-kan' (Director Kojima) is a creator who just speaks his own mind.
Neither one contradicts the other lol
If someone asked you for money without giving a reason, would you pay up?
If you don't even know why you're supposed to hand over cash, there's no reason to pay.
Chairwoman Erikawa already explained the reason for that support request back when she made the statement.
And besides, even Sega, who was struggling badly at the time, chipped in to help —
so it's pretty clear SCE (Sony Computer Entertainment) was the unreasonable one here.
Probably the opposite.
Profits are going to shrink because of new hardware like the PS6 and PSP3, so what's happening now is financial restructuring to cover that gap.
Whoever made that call should be fired, honestly.
There's a chance it could be Jim Ryan.
it all traces back to the fact that Sony hasn't explained the cancellation reason at all.
That's really all there is to it, right? People are only answering because they want to know why.
If Sony had properly explained it, I could defend them all day.
Why would they need to say something like that?
Do you go blabbing your work secrets over dinner at Yoshinoya (a beef-bowl chain — referencing a famous meme about loose-lipped gossip)?
Yoshinoya? Not sure what you're getting at,
but he's just answering a question about the cancellation reason not being explained, right?
Can't exactly say "We're pulling out anyway, so there's no point funding PHYSINT anymore," huh 😁
Negotiating hard, getting cut loose as a result, and the side that gets cut feeling blindsided — that's all just how it goes.
But as the face of a company — especially a B2C one — that "poor me" post was fatal.
After a breakup, it should read:
"As reported, we have ended our relationship with Mr. XX.
This was by no means an acrimonious split — it was a decision made with mutual respect for one another.
We're deeply grateful for the support shown so far, and we hope you'll continue to warmly watch over both of us going forward."
Not:
"In mid-June, the other side suddenly told me it was over.
In the three months since, I found a new partner.
Don't worry about me."
Put it out like that and of course it blows up.
It's literally just the facts lol
So the point is: don't state the plain facts without dressing them up?
They'll probably still ship 'God Hag' and 'Space Baldy' (in-joke nicknames for a couple of in-development titles) since those are already mostly finished, but who knows if there's anything after that.
There's no way to make a game that turns a profit on PlayStation alone anymore anyway.
Exactly that.
Demanding profitability from game development while also insisting on PS5 exclusivity — what a moron 😡
if Sony sees both Death Stranding 1 and 2 as failures and he asks for even more funding on top of that, getting cut loose seems like the natural outcome.
Let's drop the "poor victim" act.
The thing is, from the very start Death Stranding 2 launched as a PS exclusive and only got a PC release later, multiplatform-only — that alone tells you they weren't even trying to sell it.
'Filth Island' (a derogatory nickname mocking Kojima's name, playing on '-shima' meaning island) sold 13 million with the original, while the sequel stayed a PS5 exclusive and the numbers didn't grow — that's your answer right there.
Name one first-party game that outsold Death Stranding.
And letting an 'old hag' (56 years old) make the sequel, which reportedly sold only around 200,000 copies —
what kind of call is that, seriously?
Sony's the one who put up the money believing Death Stranding would sell 😁
You think they let Kojima do whatever he wanted with zero oversight?
And Death Stranding sold way better than the garbage coming out of Sony's own first-party studios anyway 😅
How much red ink do you think Concord and Marathon alone racked up? 😭
Cancel Wolverine
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If Insomniac isn't immediately handed a new project, its developers end up idle (surplus staff), so Toji (Hiroki Toji, SIE's president) gets told to lay them off
Cancel Kojima
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Kojima Productions' employees end up at risk of layoffs
Keeping in-house studio projects alive while cutting the outsourced one is obviously about protecting the in-house studios.
For SIE, Insomniac, Guerrilla, and Naughty Dog simply matter more than Kojima Productions.
Sure, as long as those studios don't end up getting cut too down the line.
Kojima only went public because of the project handover — apparently he was actually cut three months ago.
The companies' positions are just too different —
a wholly-owned subsidiary versus an outside business partner.
"Protecting" the in-house studios (via layoffs).
Even PlayStation fans have caught on that SIE is a sinking ship,
flailing around trying to lighten the load just to delay the inevitable a little longer.
Kojima, who lost MGS — they really overlap, huh.
Guess no matter what gets said, you're supposed to grit your teeth and cling to the company.
Sakaguchi never went around badmouthing Square Enix, though.
Sure, if you can stomach losing your title and being treated like a regular employee.
Same with Nagoshi, who lost Like a Dragon (Yakuza).
What they all have in common, without exception, is being 'creators' who got hyped up during PlayStation's heyday.
Background and Key Points of This Story
Kojima’s partnership with Sony began after he left Konami in 2015, continuing through Death Stranding 1 and 2 and into the new title PHYSINT. The fact that the reasons for the termination haven’t been disclosed is likely tied to how these kinds of business partnerships are often covered by non-disclosure agreements, meaning one side frequently has no obligation to explain itself. Within the thread, opinions clashed over how to weigh the Death Stranding series’ sales performance against the major losses at Sony’s own studios from titles like Concord and Marathon, with some pointing out parallels to other creators who’ve left PlayStation-affiliated companies, such as Hironobu Sakaguchi and Toshihiro Nagoshi. That said, it’s worth noting that the specific financial and business reasons behind the termination haven’t even been explained to Kojima himself, so the thread’s speculation remains just that — speculation.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hardware/Industry (Geha)) thread “Kojima: “Sony Hasn’t Contacted Me Once Since Terminating the Contract”.”
