Xbox may be publishing the next Hideo Kojima title, according to report

Since the release of Death Stranding back in 2019, a looming question has been what the team at Kojima Productions is working on next. There have been extremely subtle hints at whatever the studio has in development, usually dropped on Twitter by Kojima himself. Regardless of what players will get whenever Kojima Productions releases its next game, they may see an unexpected name in the opening splash screens, as according to Venturebeat, the next game coming from Kojima may be published by Xbox.

It wouldn’t be wholly surprising if Microsoft and Xbox were interested in the influential Japanese developer’s games. U.S.-based Xbox has often floundered in Japan due to its less-than-stellar offering of Japanese-developed titles. Bringing Kojima on board, even for one game, wouldn’t just build up the console’s reputation in Japan, it could be a remarkable addition to the platform overall.

Some kind of partnership between Xbox and Kojima Productions has previously been hinted at as well. The shelves behind Phil Spencer, the head of Xbox, have become notorious for hiding hints towards what the company is working on. This past February, while speaking about the future of cloud gaming, Spencer’s shelves were lit up by a giant Xbox logo and, right next to it, eagle-eyed viewers spotted Ludens, the Kojima Productions mascot.

Speculation almost immediately followed that Xbox was going to either purchase or work with Kojima Productions. As it turns out, those ideas may not have been too far-fetched.

While this report is far from conclusive, it does add more fuel to the blazing rumor. And it would be an interesting move for both Xbox and Kojima, considering the latter’s previous relationship with Sony and Death Stranding’s initial PlayStation exclusivity. While it eventually did release on PC, the title is still not available on Xbox or other platforms.