Hideo Kojima has revealed that he often receives ridiculously high offers from various companies wanting to buy his studio, Kojima Productions, on a daily basis. Despite publishing giants offering to purchase the studio on a daily basis, Kojima appears adamant to preserve his studio's independence while developing games.
The celebrated video game director wants his studio to stay independent "as long as he is alive," as he says on the recent episode of his Spotify podcast featuring Geoff Keighley. He also adds that he does not want money, and "it was not the reason behind the creation of his studio" in the first place.
Acknowledging that most people have a misunderstanding about Kojima Productions, Kojima continues to clarify that the funds to create his studio was 100% from his pocket. Saying that "it did not receive funding from anyone, and it is independent." The beloved game director also touches on another misconception regarding Kojima Productions' relationship with Sony.
The fact that his studio and the headquarters of Sony Interactive Entertainment are in proximity, people tend to think that the studio is a subsidiary of the Japanese tech giant. Though that is not correct as Kojima Productions stands independent and has no affiliations with other companies. "We are indies", says Kojima.
It is only natural for Hideo Kojima to receive extremely high offers from all over the world, though. As arguably one of the most influential game developers in the industry, he has delivered titles that revolutionized gameplay formulas in a wide variety of ways. Though it appears to be that he will continue to reject these offers even though his studio generates a great amount of monetary interest from giants of the industry.
Kojima Productions' most recent work, on the other hand, was Death Stranding. Deemed as a title with unusual gameplay mechanics, Death Stranding depicts the United States in an utterly transformed state, troubled by a series of supernatural events. The game director shook hands with Sony to make Death Stranding exclusive to PlayStation consoles.
The Japanese video game developer has been hard at work with Xbox Game Studios for some time now, as the collaboration between Xbox and Kojima Productions was announced back in June. Recent gameplay footage from the studio's rumored title, Overdose, was leaked yesterday and found its way to the internet. While the legitimacy of the gameplay footage remains ambiguous, it is safe to say that the title looks far from finished. The details regarding the Kojima titles in development remain scarce. And it is quite unlikely for us to hear news of an acquisition of the studio as long as the esteemed director is at the helm.