
Update (Fri 2nd Jul, 2021 11:00 BST): Jeff Grubb has returned again with another update, this time provided in writing over at VentureBeat, where he notes that Hideo Kojima and Microsoft have signed a "letter of intent" for a new Xbox game, signifying that "both parties have agreed to a generalized deal."
There's still no word on what type of game this might be, but Grubb says the deal is "so close that Microsoft has begun preparing for what Kojima will need to make his new game." It looks like this is almost certainly happening, folks!
"This is a key step in the negotiations between the Metal Gear Solid creator and the Xbox company. This signifies that both parties have agreed to a generalized deal while lawyers continue hashing out the finer points."
Original story (Fri 25th Jun, 2021 17:40 BST): We've been hearing for a few months now that the Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima might be in talks with Xbox to produce his next game, and according to VentureBeat reporter Jeff Grubb, the deal is pretty much a certainty.
Speaking on the latest GamesBeat Decides podcast, Grubb acknowledged that former Portal designer Kim Swift was brought into Xbox to work with Kojima, and the deal is "at a point where it's not going to not get signed."
"Kim Swift, who's worked on Portal and Left 4 Dead, and she's been at [Google] Stadia working as, like, their chief creative person, she's coming in specifically to work with Kojima on his game. [Xbox] didn't say Kojima, it said in the story it's about working with independent developers, [but] it's Kojima."
"It's close [to being signed]. It's at a point where, I think, it's not going to not get signed. They are just figuring out details basically. And I'll have more to say about that soon."
VentureBeat previously reported that Kojima Productions is "still in the early design phases for this project," and Kim Swift's hiring is "part of a bigger strategy to expand the reach of Xbox beyond physical hardware under a TV or monitor."
It was also said back in April that the collaboration was the "focus of a Microsoft plan to leverage Japanese talent," and the statue that has appeared on Phil Spencer's multiple times was indeed a tease, referencing the potential deal.
Intrigued by whatever this upcoming game might be? Think the deal will go ahead? Let us know below.
[source venturebeat.com, via youtube.com]
Comments 51
Interesting
@Royalblues it's funny if you listen to Jeff Grubbs podcast and take what he says fact he is pretty much always right on the money.
Problem is people take something he says and cut where he says I don't know but assume xxx and they just pull the xxx part and make headlines out of it
Lost a bit of faith with Kojima after Death Stranding, but there's no doubt he's a visionary game developer.
Would be interesting to see what he could come up with using the cloud.
Grubb was very vague about E3 just before it. Anyway, I'm not particularly excited about this deal because the story of MGSV is a mess (I haven't played Death Stranding) and I don't want to see his name in font size 72 thrice before loading a file. The great things about MGSV were the programmers' work, flawless performance, great visuals and balanced (yet difficult) gameplay.
Watch all the ps fanboys who made out he was a god and made out death stranding was a masterpiece suddenly all change there tune and say he's lost his touch and death stranding was boring etc etc
I personally thought mgsv had great gameplay but the rest was meh but it was one of them games that you knew the sheep would all give 10 out of 10 regardless ..still I think this is great news and il be interested to see what game he makes.
Death Stranding was one of my favorite games of last gen, and I can't wait to play the ps5 version. This is exciting news for Xbox. Hopefully this will also bring Death Stranding to GamePass along with whatever he's working on next.
I understand he was behind metal gear solid but I don't see what's so special about him, death stranding was just a glorified walking simulator with a celebrity as the main character. That alone drove most sales.
Plus this is geff grubb, the man loves making stuff up
@Royalblues as @Terrin noted, he tends to be very accurate when he is certain of stuff. Am very inclined that when he is certain of something, but it fails to materialize, things either changed or he just got the timing wrong (like Xbox multiplayer going free, everyone lately seems to say that is conditional to an unknown subscriber number on Xbox game pass.)
Anyways, you can go to his videos, they are chapter marked so you can jump straight to the topic and get the full context of what he actually said. Then you can tell if he was just saying “I think, maybe, it’s possible” or “this is happening”
@Jslade does do Death Stranding IP belong to Sony or to Kojima Productions?
I believe Death Stranding is an ideal game to debut on Game Pass. I was curious about this game, but never bought it on my PS4 because it was unlike anything I ever played and I could definitely see myself getting bored with it and regretting my purchase. But on Game Pass pretty much everyone would just try it anyway.
This deal would be a big win for Kojima. He will be enabled to be as weird as he wants to without the pressure of selling millions of copies.
Death Stranding is really the only PS exclusive I haven’t played from last gen. I’ve watched gameplay and it looks so laborious and painful. Please let whatever he is making here be nothing like that.
@BlueOcean to be fair this won't involve Konami which was one of the main reasons content was missing from MGSV.
This is good news for Xbox. They need more Japanese talent because everything I've played Japanese so far has been on PS. This would bolster GamePass subs no doubt.
Coming from Jeff Grubb I don't believe it lol
I don't know if I've ever played a game by this dude so personally i don't get the hype but I hope it happens so I can try it out. The more variety the better.
Hopefully not a Death Stranding not for me.
But a new metal gear type game for next generation only would be great.
Maybe he could do Banjo Kazooie for us.
How will he have time when he’s working on Abandoned? Sorry, I had to. More games is always a good thing. Looking forward to seeing what comes of this.
Death Stranding is my second favorite PS4 game behind Horizon Zero Dawn. It was so strange and interesting. I’m in for whatever Kojima makes next. I’m
Jumping to Xbox for my primary console this gen anyway. If I can ever get my hands on a Series X.
Love his work and found Death Stranding to be exceptionally well done but there's no way it, or Metal Gear has anything to do with this. Sony own's one and Konami the other. Konami also owns Zone of the Enders, which kind of sucks as I'd love a new one of those.
I just hope this is a strong effort from him, whatever it is.
Man i can't wait to find out what this is, Kojima is a legend.. This is amazing for Xbox..
@Jslade I know 505 Games is publishing the PC version, but the console version is published by Sony. It's never coming to Game Pass (MLB The Show is different).
Looking forward to seeing this pan out. Always a bonus that it'll be guaranteed to hit gamepass as well.
Oh it's Grubb again...
Even though some of his predictions came out to be true i still take whatever he said with grain of salt.
If it's a Jeff Grubb rumor, it's a 'definitely maybe' matter, though he sounds quite sure this time. If it is indeed true, I hope for less fluff and more substance from this Kojima game.
@Terrin this 100%! People and sites report what Grubb and others say as ‘fact’, when if you actually listen to it in context he usually qualifies each with a level of assuredness.
When he says he knows something is happening he’s rarely wrong, but of course things change too.
Regardless I’ve started to dislike the amount of leaks nowadays, how often are we truly surprised by a game or announcement nowadays. And if I was a dev who had worked on something for years I’d be pissed to see my work leaked so callously so often.
"It's at a point where, I think, it's not going to not get signed."
There MUST be a simpler way to say that...
The moon, in the year 2066: the houses on earth's first moon colony all need to be painted. That's where you come in. Paint houses in zero gravity. In real time. By hand. But watch out for the invisible psychic ghosts that live up here for some reason. Denzel Washington is in it. And oh, I don't know, Ryan Reynolds. Your paintbrush is voiced by Samuel L. Jackson. None of the cutscenes are less than an hour long. The open world is the size of the actual moon.
Exciting news for fans of Kojima and Xbox. That list doesn’t include me as I’ve never liked a single game of his, but I’m pleased for those who are pleased. And it’s another string to the Xbox bow.
@CrazyJF That's a triple negative. I have to report you. 🙅🏻
@armondo36 I would play that game.
@armondo36
"Masterpiece! 10/10. GOTY." - Geoff Keighley
@electrolite77 maybe you haven't tried MGS1 & 2???
I'm more curious why it needs to be played through the cloud, as it seems to be the Stadia game they pulled funding from and MS have now picked up instead.
@endlessleep
I bought them at full price on PS1 and PS2 because I was convinced I should like them but no. I tried again with the Vita rerelease and then when MGSV went on PS Plus but never got into them. Just one of them things.
As soon as I saw the name Jeff grubb I lost all interest, guy likes to make guesses and start rumours whilst maybe 20% of what he says might come true.
Wait for the official announcement and let's hope he makes an actual decent game this time
Xbox doing a lot of great moves lately.. this not being one of them. Kojima is far more a "legend" due to minority niches loud following than due to quality mass appeal. And with his last 2 games, he has spent most of that credit too.
Hope I'm wrong and he surprises us with a groundbreaking hit..
Oh Jeff Grubb again? Nice, I don't believe it again!
@masofdas I don’t think it HAS to be played through the cloud. I think it is using cloud tech for extra power. Kind of like MSFS uses cloud tech for rendering the world. That was my understanding. I might be wrong.
@UltimateOtaku91 @AFCC To be honest I find that he rarely gets things wrong unless he's only sharing rumours from other people that he's "heard" or saying something he "thinks" might be the case.
He was the first to leak Mass Effect Legendary Edition and Forza Horizon 5's 2021 release if I remember correctly. And he does sound very sure about this Xbox & Kojima partnership.
@Cikajovazmaj Metal Gear Solid is niche? Death Stranding wasn't for everybody, but it's a stretch at best to call his fanbase minority niche.
@FraserG Don’t bother with them, now they are literally counting on a change.org petition. The salt is real.
Very interested to see what kojima & Xbox come up with. I’ll def keep an eye out for it. Also funny to see that petition made to stop kojima & Xbox working together.
Looks like the petition was made by a Xbox fan boy. Which honestly make me wonder why people, who have all the time to do anything they want, resort to doing bs like this. This is why fan boys are pointless. We should all be fans of gaming, regardless the platform
https://mobile.twitter.com/kevink08/status/1410860414317912066
@Cyrus29 fanboys are poison to the gaming community. Showing loyalty to a plastic box is mental. Just enjoy games regardless of platform.
@Hypnotoad107 could be that, just basing it really on why Stadia originally and something about beyond what console's can do
Also today PlayStation hints on Kojimas socials, we know about Death Stranding Directors Cut though
@Cyrus29 that’s crazy. That guy is too much. I’m an Xbox guy and I’ll always admit that. I also could care less about this specific deal but to go so far as to make a petition? That’s lame.
@BlueOcean I lost all faith in Kojima after Ground Zeroes, really. That was a flipping wreck of a disaster. The gameplay was solid (heh, see what I did there?) but the pretentiousness of it from beginning to end, the utter nonsense of the entire story, and that ending...... I was over him. Then lets not get started on the bizarre, extensive, prologue of MGSV that couldn't figure out an MGS game isn't a survival horror game.
His oddness was cool at one time, but it feels like he just does crazy for the sake of crazy, now, all while being pretentious AF.
At least Death Stranding is absurdly meta, but I just can't get myself to tolerate "arthouse" story writers anymore, and the gameplay, while tight, is never that interesting or groundbreaking in his games anymore.
@NEStalgia Certainly. I'm excited about the resurrection of Project Zero/Fatal Frame on all platforms, Dragon Quest coming to Xbox for the first time, all Final Fantasy games on Xbox (after Sony's absurd timed exclusivities), Tales of, etc. I'm hoping for Resident Evil Code Veronica remake... All these games are Japanese but I'm not particularly interested in Kojima's new projects.
@UltimateOtaku91 Death Stranding is an awesome game. Gameplay is addictive, the weird story is very enjoyable. Music is great. I used to say the same “glorified walking simulator”. Then I got it on sale and became on of my favorites.
@Jaxx420 Very true.
@xMightyMatt14x it’s crazy the way fanboys mentality works. All over a plastic box.
@Cyrus29 He made a fool of himself and brought us Xbox enthusiasts considerable shame. I hope he gets cholera.
@FraserG I could be wrong but I don't think that deal will happen. Now with the Director's Cut from Death Stranding I believe it even less
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