Hideo Kojima has a long history with Sony stemming from his time with Konami. The video game auteur saw many of his life’s best works come out exclusively on Sony consoles at launch, such as four of the mainline Metal Gear Solid games. Even after leaving Konami, Sony Interactive Entertainment produced Kojima Productions’ first independent project, Death Stranding, which recently got a PC port.
Now, there’s “proof” that Sony has officially welcomed Kojima to the PlayStation Studios family. The rumor stems from the latest PlayStation Studios banner update. In particular, Sony changed the webpage for PlayStation Studios to show Demon’s Souls, updated designs for Aloy and Gran Turismo, as well as a new MLB player. Meanwhile, Sony removed Concrete Genie in favor of Death Stranding. It’s easy to see why some would think that fans are reaching and that this is no more than a regular update. On the other hand, this is the first time that Sony included artwork from a non-first party studio game. In the past, Sony had always kept games made by external partners separate. Not to mention, Sony waited before adding the images for Returnal and the Demon’s Souls Remake until it had officially acquired Housemarquee and Bluepoint Games, respectively. Of course, it is worth noting that Sony also owns the Death Stranding IP, and the console manufacturer has stated before that non-Sony studios will get the PS Studios branding if Sony is producing the game. With zero precedence, it’s worth keeping an eye on Sony and Kojima Productions, just in case. Speaking of Kojima, his studio is already working on a “radical project” for 2022. Meanwhile, Norman Reedus “confirmed” in August that a Death Stranding sequel is coming.