Sony Interactive Entertainment executives have made it clear that there are going to be more acquisitions for PlayStation Studios in the future—and an updated version of the studio collective’s website banner has sparked an old rumor again.
On the official PlayStation Studios website, the banner showing off games developed by studios owned or close to Sony has been updated to include four new games. One of those games is Death Stranding, which was developed by Hideo Kojima’s Kojima Productions.
Kojima Productions is not owned by Sony or a part of PlayStation Studios, leading many fans to speculate that Death Stranding being featured on this new portrait is hinting at a potential acquisition. The other games added to the image include an updated version of MLB The Show for its 2022 edition, 2020’s Demon’s Souls remaster, and a car from Gran Turismo, all of which are first-party franchises developed within the PlayStation Studios umbrella.
Kojima has long been linked with Sony, dating back to his days working at Konami on Metal Gear Solid. When Kojima Productions became an independent studio in December 2015, the announcement was made alongside Sony since Kojima and his new team had partnered with Sony to create a new franchise for the PS4. Death Stranding was later published by Sony in 2019 and remains a console exclusive in the PlayStation ecosystem.
There are some recent developments that lend some extra fuel to this acquisition rumor, including the fact that Kojima and his team just moved out of its Tokyo office. Additionally, Kojima Productions is preparing to launch a new business division for film and TV projects in Los Angeles, an area where Sony has been expanding as of late with movies and shows based on its video game IPs.
But while these rumors are circulating again, industry insider Jeff Grubb provided an update that might throw a wrench in any immediate announcements.
On his Giant Bomb podcast Grubbsnax, Grubb confirmed that Kojima’s cloud-based Xbox project is still in the works with Microsoft. This partnership was originally revealed last July when Grubb noted that both sides were closing a deal and it is reportedly still happening as of a few weeks ago.
“As of a couple of weeks ago, the Xbox and Kojima deal was still on,” Grubb said, as transcribed by VGC. “This isn’t based on the information I had last year, this is more recent than that. This is still on.”
Grubb did say that this has no bearing on a potential Sony acquisition of Kojima Productions, but it does add another wrinkle to the rumor resurgence.
Over the last year, Sony has acquired Bungie, Haven, Nixxes Software, Firesprite, Valkyrie Entertainment, Housemarque, and Bluepoint Games.
