Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima is officially not involved in the upcoming PlayStation 5-exclusive Abandoned, contrary to fast rumors that spread after its reveal. The upcoming horror-themed survival game was announced yesterday for PS5, but the internet put its tinfoil hat on, speculating that Abandoned was Hideo Kojima's newest game, or that he or his studio Kojima Productions were somehow involved.
Although some pieces of evidence were stronger than others, a key fact to consider is that Abandoned developer Blue Box Game Studios has been around since at least 2015, long before Kojima even left Konami. Still, some were convinced this was a long con, despite growing rumors that Hideo Kojima is reportedly working with Xbox on his next game, with an announcement supposedly coming sooner rather than later. Although nothing has been confirmed on that front, Abandoned developer Blue Box has come out and flatly denied claims of collaboration with Kojima.
Following all of Wednesday's speculation, Blue Box Games Studios released a statement about some of its history and why the Hideo Kojima rumors are nonsense. Although details about Abandoned remain scarce, it seems clear it's not related to the prolific Japanese developer, even though Kojima is expected to announce his next game soon. Blue Box says:
"We received several emails regarding the Hideo Kojima rumor. We have no association with Hideo Kojima nor do we claim to have any association nor was it our intention to claim such a statement. We are a small group of developers working on a passionate title we wanted to work on for a long time."
The studio noted that it has been helping other studios out over the last few years and has had its own smaller indie titles over the years, including one inspired by Fatal Frame. The studio is still excited to share its upcoming gameplay reveal, but it does seem like a bummer that it spent all this time building up the courage to reveal its big PS5 exclusive just to be overshadowed by Kojima. It undoubtedly gave Abandoned a new wave of attention that it may not have gotten otherwise, but it's clearly not intentional whatsoever.
Hopefully, this strange occurrence will be a good thing for Abandoned in the long-run. Even though Hideo Kojima is not attached, it got people talking about the game and will likely keep people's interest if its eventual gameplay reveal is well-received. Whether or not this will be a defining indie title for PS5 that makes Blue Box's career remains to be seen, but it will be an interesting game to watch throughout 2021.
Source: Blue Box Game Studios
Abandoned will be available for PlayStation 5 in Q4 2021.