Hideo Kojima’s Next Game May Be An Xbox Exclusive

Microsoft’s been trying to make strides in the Japanese market, and it appears as if they may be making one of their biggest moves yet. According to a report from GamesBeat, the company might be getting an exclusive game from esteemed Japanese developer Hideo Kojima.

This all started when Sony revealed a new survival horror game called Abandoned that’s coming exclusively to the PS5 later this year. Due to the vibe of the game and fact that the game’s developer Blue Box Game Studios seemingly came out of nowhere, many on the internet started to speculate that the game might be a secret project by Kojima. It wouldn’t be the first time he revealed a game under an alias that turned out to be something much bigger.

GamesBeat debunked that theory with information they received from “a source familiar with the matter,” stating the Kojima is currently in talks with Microsoft about the company publishing his next game. Though they can’t confirm whether or not Microsoft has closed the deal yet, they can say that Microsoft sealing this deal is a key part of their “plan to leverage Japanese talent.”

Hideo Kojima is an industry icon, most notable for the Metal Gear Solid franchise and more recently Death Stranding. If Microsoft were to secure an exclusive game by him, it would certainly be a win for the company in the Japanese market. They’ve long had a difficult time trying to break into Japan thanks to steep competition from Japanese companies Sony and Nintendo. Getting one of the most well known Japanese developers to make his next title exclusively for their platform would definitely help bring more eyes over to Xbox in Japan, and could be the start of getting more developers from there to invest heavily in the Xbox ecosystem.