Rumors of Hideo Kojima working with Microsoft for his next game are heating up. GamesBeat’s Jeff Grubb reports that the developer has signed a letter of intent with Microsoft to ink a future deal for the company to publish and assist with his next game.
The two parties—Kojima and Microsoft—have reportedly signed a letter of intent to continue hashing out details for a future partnership. The letter of intent is the precursor to inking a future deal, which would see Microsoft publish the next Hideo Kojima game, and allow the developer to use Microsoft resources like the Azure cloud services. Grubb states, “this signifies that both parties have agreed to a generalized deal while lawyers continue hashing out the finer points.”
The letter of intent comes after months of talks between the two parties, and Microsoft is reportedly already getting its ducks in a row to get Kojima everything he will need for the project. Microsoft’s hiring of Portal and Left4Dead developer Kim Swift—who formerly worked at Stadia—seems to be with the goal of helping Kojima make his dream cloud gaming project a reality using Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure.
Grubb says that the deal comes without a specific pitch for a game, but rather a generalized use of the technological capabilities behind Microsoft’s cloud services. “The point of the partnership is to unlock the creativity of Kojima Productions using Microsoft’s technology as opposed to greenlighting a specific pitch.”
While the deal isn’t likely to completely lock Kojima into the Microsoft ecosystem, it’s unlikely that we’d see the Kojima/Microsoft game come to PlayStation platforms. After all, Microsoft locking down a title with a renowned developer who has previously been largely associated with PlayStation, especially in recent years, is an enormous get for the company. And with confirmation that Bethesda’s Starfield is going to be Xbox exclusive, don’t expect Microsoft to share its toys so eagerly.
With the Kojima Microsoft deal still in its early stages, the resulting game probably won’t release for years yet. Kojima is currently working on Death Stranding Director’s Cut for PS5, which is expected to launch later this year.
[Source: GamesBeat]
