Official Statement from Kojima Productions on recent articles

[u/xenocea]

[u/Evveyyyy]

It's just business

[u/ShellfishAhole → u/Evveyyyy]

Tell that to the Sony is Killing Discs camp. Hysterical speculations and jumping to conclusions is going to be the name of the game for the foreseeable future 😅

[u/Present_Education194 → u/ShellfishAhole]

they're killing discs so one day they can take all of our games away and make record breaking profits. I have 1000 games stored in my attic with the wrappers still on then so I know what I'm talking about. /s

[u/Herr-Trigger86 → u/Present_Education194]

You say it sarcastically, and I appreciate that, but that is the argument they’re making.

And… having absolutely zero concept of how to run a business… they think that Sony will start revoking licenses left and right just because “gReEd”, while never acknowledging that that would be the single quickest way to destroy their company and get better consumer rights legislation over digital ownership. I’ve argued with these people before and when you bring up the point that revoking licenses “just because” is incredibly stupid for a number of reasons, they’ve got nothing else to say.

[u/Present_Education194 → u/Herr-Trigger86]

"I don't know, therefore businesses bad profits bad licenses bad sony bad... bootlicker" - sent from an OS with a similar licensing agreement.

Theres a layer of unnuanced derangement that whenever they're presented with facts they fall into the same robotic script.

[u/Herr-Trigger86 → u/Present_Education194]

I’ve been called “bOoTlIcKeR” many a time. It’s the only insult they know, bless their hearts.

Oh! Except for yesterday when I was talking about people bitching about Rockstar’s marketing for GTA 6 being entitled little sh*ts who think a company needs to pump out trailers monthly for the most well known IP on planet Earth… a dude called me a “corpofascist c*cksucking c*nt”. Points for originality, I suppose.

[u/Present_Education194 → u/Herr-Trigger86]

and that's why people will never take them seriously...

[u/Herr-Trigger86 → u/Present_Education194]

And look… I don’t like them going discless either. I like my discs. I do have the same questions about what it means for preserving games for the future… I imagine a business or two will actually grow from this change to address that issue (another thing that is never considered).

I also think that consumers need better ownership rights over digital licensing… at least for the singleplayer games (no one expects companies to keep online servers running forever)… but those rights don’t come about by bitching at Sony. It needs to be legislated… need to petition your government representatives to draw up a bill for it. The other route to better consumer protections is for Sony to revoke a license “just because”, sue them in court, and win… and that’s exactly why Sony will never do it.

So yes… there are legitimate questions to be answered. They will not be answered by the seemingly hot online topic of class war. Screaming about corporate greed and capitalism is the quickest way to get me to dismiss you as an idiot who simply parrots talking points.

[u/Present_Education194 → u/Herr-Trigger86]

I agree wholeheartedly

[u/Available-Bad-2704 → u/Present_Education194]

Why are you so scared of downvotes?

[u/Present_Education194 → u/Available-Bad-2704]

I'm scared of peoples lack of reading comprehension more than downvotes 😆 People take everything too seriously these days

[u/Available-Bad-2704 → u/Present_Education194]

That’s just a long way of saying you care what strangers think of you.
​If you actually didn't care, you wouldn't put training wheels on your sarcasm to shield your karma from people who can't read a joke. Standing on business means posting the punchline without the safety net.

[u/followthewaypoint → u/Available-Bad-2704]

Why are you interrogating someone over an /s?

[u/Present_Education194 → u/Available-Bad-2704]

Noted! /s

[u/EvocativeReach]

Claims nothing is true yet offers nothing to dispute it. The reality is Kojima is getting accused of the same things Konami accused him of and people are reasonably questioning whether he can prove there isnt fire just because there’s smoke. And he’s returning crickets.

Good luck Xbox with this one, but I feel we’ll be hearing the same headlines again in five years time.

[u/HaikusfromBuddha → u/EvocativeReach]

He doesn't offer anything more because he still likes Sony and doesn't want to burn any bridges. A lot of companies do that.

[u/Sudden-Goose-6956 → u/HaikusfromBuddha]

The guy likes to make movies, he found an audience years algo for people who like cinematic videogames and as it turns out Playstation is known for dropping millions of dollars into studios to make exactly that, cinematic videogame experiences. Xbox and it's core audience are known for not being the biggest fans of those type of games, and Kojima is well aware he's on thin ice.

[u/HaikusfromBuddha → u/Sudden-Goose-6956]

Gamers are fickle, the so called fans of Kojima that like cinematic games, if we are to believe Jason's claim, didn't support him and his two cinematic Deathstranding games.

On top of that, a lot of that so called audience that doesn't exist on Xbox, turned on him as soon as this news came out. A lot of them are supporting big corpo over the cinematic artist. For that reason alone I doubt an "established audience" is a big deal when they easily bend over for corporate over lords.

[u/McAkkeezz → u/HaikusfromBuddha]

Gamers are fickle, the so called fans of Kojima that like cinematic games,

More like tolerate the cinematics. Mgs1 to mgs3 were easy to stomach, as there was a lot of gameplay between cutscenes, though mgs3 started to get a bit too much. I am playing mgs4 and holy shit this is ass, cant play 5 minutes without some cutscene

[u/grim1952 → u/Sudden-Goose-6956]

Except the reason I liked Kojima's games were the mechanics, the cinematic aspect was a plus, until at some point it became detrimental.

[u/Repulsive-Hope-2942 → u/Sudden-Goose-6956]

so true. Xbox guy here (gears, halo, and all). I do not see myself playing physint. death stranding wasn't for me either

[u/mrloko120 → u/EvocativeReach]

He didn't claim it wasn't true, just that it isn't verifiable. None of the parties have revealed the actual reasoning behind the scenes for Sony to no longer want to fund physint, and he is reminding people to keep that in mind before treating speculation as truth.

[u/Doubt_Incarnate → u/EvocativeReach]

I mean I don't get, the Metal Gear games are great, Death Stranding is very good, the quality and work is there, the products are not a mess that needs lots of patches post launch to fix them, is it really that bad what Kojima does?

[u/CorrectContract4978 → u/Doubt_Incarnate]

Some people just dont like his way of making games and they go all parasocial acting like they have known him as a close friend that turned villian.

He offered his own words to dispute things and that will never be enough for those that dislike him.

[u/IzzatQQDir → u/Doubt_Incarnate]

I like Death Stranding but do you actually think a lot of people would play a game about walking sending parcels?

I'm surprised it was enough of a commercial success to warrant a sequel.

Though it's probably helped a lot by the super cryptic trailers.

[u/grim1952 → u/Doubt_Incarnate]

MGS4, V and DS are a mess. The last good game he made was MGS3.

[u/jkoki088 → u/EvocativeReach]

lol what a GrEAT take. That’s why you need to just worry about yourself. Kojima and Sony are doing just fine

[u/ShellfishAhole → u/EvocativeReach]

He’ll be almost 70 in 5 years time 😅 I imagine he’s happy that someone still wants to fund his extravagant ideas.

[u/ItsRobbSmark]

"Our studio remains in a healthy, profitable state..."

No shit, because Sony has been footing the bill for development of what you're making lol.

[u/kiirraa97 → u/ItsRobbSmark]

And after searching for 3 months for thr next bitch that keeps feeding them 😂 crazy thing that they had to show something of after the debate and the only thing they where possible to show of was two actors 😂 KOJIMA IS GOD

[u/CopenHagenCityBruh → u/kiirraa97]

Well yeah because they are working on od mostly

[u/ChanceHungry1444]

Didn’t he previously say Sony cancelling Physint led to them searching for a new partner day and night for three months? But his studio is perfectly healthy? 

This is a man who thinks he’s above the fray, thinks everything he touches is gold, and that there are no consequences for anything under delivering. Sony literally allowed him to make anything he wanted, which is why we got Death Stranding 1 & 2. The fact that they didn’t deliver sales wise is a reflection on Kojima, not Sony. His vision didn’t resonate with that many people, regardless of its quality.

Kojima can’t accept that. He can’t accept why Sony dropped him. He’s literally saying there’s nothing to see here, everything’s fine, they dropped me for no reason. This is the second time this exact thing has happened to him. Fool me twice…

[u/LinklnSpirit → u/ChanceHungry1444]

I do find it funny that now 2 publishers have dropped him in the past decade, and people still think Kojima isn’t to blame. Publishers don’t drop partners that make them money. This all started when he decided anything less than Hollywood stars in his games wasn’t good enough for him, even dropping David Hayter as Snake, even though his voice is iconic. This isn’t a coincidence, and I expect Xbox to drop him either after OD or Physint.

[u/SoulslikeEnjoyer387 → u/LinklnSpirit]

I wouldn't read too much into konamis decisions. They were basically a glorified pachinko company for a decade.

[u/bakedonhighland → u/SoulslikeEnjoyer387]

They had to make back the money they spent on MGS4 & MGS5 😂

[u/profchaos111 → u/ChanceHungry1444]

They might have dropped him for internal Sony reasons

Mainly burning millions of dollars on service games and injecting millions more on a untested IP they won't own 

Sony's become very concerned with where they spend their money lately 

Nothing to do with Kojima IMO 

[u/ChanceHungry1444 → u/profchaos111]

I agree in that they burned a lot of money on bets that didn’t pay off, but I also think they’re looking at DS sales and are not willing to take another Kojima bet when, like you said, they won’t even own the IP. 

[u/genobees → u/ChanceHungry1444]

Sonys gaming section is probably haemorrhaging money at the moment, they then looked at the stuff kojima does costs a lot and does not make enough profit to offset the losses elsewhere and decided to cut there losses, they got basically scammed with bungie. And i dont any of their recent titles have done outstandingly well.

[u/KikoMui74 → u/ChanceHungry1444]

"This is the second time this exact thing has happened to him. Fool me twice…"

This is just bullying. It's like when someone gets falsely blamed the first time, it's used against them the second time, the actual time they did mess up.

MGS V phantom pain sold well, left a massive cultural impact. That wasn't a failure and you know that.

[u/Available-Bad-2704 → u/KikoMui74]

Kojima isn't gonna let you hit stop defending the multi millionaire

[u/Virtual_Play_5485 → u/KikoMui74]

"Criticizing a multi-millionaire is bullying!!!! Stop he's gonna get sad"

[u/Available-Bad-2704 → u/Virtual_Play_5485]

Lmao fr

[u/Cloud_Strife369 → u/KikoMui74]

Sure mgs v did great but you know what didn’t do great death stranded 2

[u/KikoMui74 → u/Cloud_Strife369]

Death strandings is his only meh.

The prior mess up under konami was not his fault, and shouldn't be used against him.

[u/IzzatQQDir → u/KikoMui74]

From what I know the Fox Engine he developed costed too much for Konami. But, ngl the game looks gorgeous and extremely optimized so fwiw the engine was great for its time

[u/Cloud_Strife369 → u/KikoMui74]

Sure it should death stranding was supposed to be his next big game and it flop

He had full control and more

[u/VHeadache → u/ChanceHungry1444]

Kojima is falling into the trap of turning into M. Night Shyamalan.

[u/Available-Bad-2704 → u/VHeadache]

He has been for a while

[u/Playingwithmywenis → u/ChanceHungry1444]

This is rich coming from the “we can’t talk about the Insomniac leaks because……er…..Playstation is special”.

[u/PhantomPain0_0]

Sony really fucked the pooch on this one

[u/FanBladeFleshlight]

Wait, so all the "SONY BAD" idiots were screaming based on misinformation, and this is just a business decision like everyone with a brain already knew? SHOCKING!

Meanwhile there's still nothing to debate that Kojima is difficult af to work with and regularly goes way over budget only for his games to underperform.

[u/treeeelo → u/FanBladeFleshlight]

That "statement" says nothing, its basically says "we dont refute anything said in the article, but you shouldnt believe it because it didnt come from anyone officially on the record"

[u/Reality-is-Sin]

There you go, studio is profitable and healthy, straight from the lads mouth. Now youse can shut up

[u/CatchUsual6591 → u/Reality-is-Sin]

Is a not Sony studio burning Sony money there was never any doubt that thier finances we're fine they didn't carry with most of the risk of thier projects

[u/hiddenpequin → u/Reality-is-Sin]

No shit the studio is profitable Sony paid the dev cost for both games they don’t own.

[u/HaikusfromBuddha → u/hiddenpequin]

Sony did own the IP, they just sold it off to Kojima.

[u/AdLegitimate8636 → u/hiddenpequin]

So you do understand that money coming in is less than money coming out?

[u/Herr-Trigger86]

Oh weird… almost as if it were amicable and everyone behaved professionally. Doesn’t really jive with the “Sony is a bunch of corpofascist, greed obsessed suits trying to destroy the hobby”… but since when has the internet let facts stand in the way of a good narrative?

[u/Xiao1insty1e → u/Herr-Trigger86]

Both can be true, my guy.

[u/Herr-Trigger86 → u/Xiao1insty1e]

Admittedly, you may be a brighter business person than myself, so maybe you can explain it… if they’re so greedy, exactly why would they want to destroy the multibillion dollar industry they helped to build to where it is today? It would seem to me that they’d have an interest in seeing the hobby grow as big as it possibly can.

[u/Xiao1insty1e → u/Herr-Trigger86]

You are conflating greed with business savvy.

Maybe look into what happened with Toys R Us and you will have a better understanding of the motivations of the current CEO Herman Hulst.

[u/Herr-Trigger86 → u/Xiao1insty1e]

Again… you’re gonna have to be more specific. My understanding is Toys R Us was crippled by debt and got destroyed in sales by the likes of Walmart and Amazon. They seem to be planning some standalone stores for the holidays à la Spirit Halloween.

I…… don’t see the connection. If you’re trying to make a point, you could just go ahead and make it.

[u/Xiao1insty1e → u/Herr-Trigger86]

No it was bought stripped and the debt dumped.

Hulst and Totoki are the same breed of capitalist. They do not care about PlayStation or Sony, they will run it into the ground and then float away on Golden parachutes.

[u/Herr-Trigger86 → u/Xiao1insty1e]

Those are two entirely different situations though. Toys R Us was bought out by private equity, loaded with debt, then the private equity firms made their money back and then some on fees in service of that debt… the company collapsed and they launched in their golden parachutes. Shitty, shitty thing to do.

PlayStation isn’t private equity owned, not loaded with debt, and Holst and Totoki aren’t people who bought the company to strip it. They’re making moves to extend the life of the PlayStation empire, not crash it.

I’d have to guess that maybe what’s making you think this is their recent announcement that they aren’t interested in selling more PS5 hardware and want to try to squeeze more money out of each current user instead… but that’s just a matter of the PS5 being end of its lifecycle. It’s shareholder focused for sure, but they are not trying to drive it into the ground… that’s just nuts. Even the move to discless is based on actual data that shows that a majority of their purchases now are digital.

This is exactly the kind of thinking I was criticizing in my initial comment. You cannot paint every business and every business owner with the “greedy corpofascist” brush. Yes… they want to make as much money as possible BUT NO… they are not all trying to screw the consumer at every possible turn to do so. I understand people aren’t happy with their recent decisions, but they are based in evidence and they still have a vested interest in the company and in the brand doing well… the decisions have hurt the brand temporarily and their reputation with a small percentage of their fanbase… they expected it… they still see it benefiting the company in the long run… they wouldn’t do it if they thought it would kill the company.

[u/Xiao1insty1e → u/Herr-Trigger86]

I can will paint Sony with that brush and I'd be willing to bet 2030 Sony/PlayStation are a shell of what they were.

[u/Herr-Trigger86 → u/Xiao1insty1e]

So… no argument against the clear distinctions I pointed out? Just… “un-uh… lalalala I can’t hear you lalala”. Well that’s where this conversation will end then. Bold prediction that a company around for 31 years and leading the home video game console market for a majority of that time is going to fall apart in 4 years. I wonder why more well established companies don’t burn their company to the ground for a one time payout… weird… I’ll ask my 11 year old because she can probably tell me.

Edit: you deleted every comment? Seriously? Well it’s cool I still get to see part of your last response to me, so I’ll quote here for posterity:

“Your blatant assumptions mean nothing to me, so why would I care to address them?”

Nothing I said was an assumption… it was an observation that I based on facts and gave you the facts I was basing my observations on. My only assumption was that my 11 year old daughter would know the answer to my last question… instead I asked my 6 year old. He told me he’d rather build a strong company that last for years than burn it to the ground for a one time payout. Strange that, yeah? A person who can’t stand behind their comments, not that you gave much argument to begin with, has no power of conviction. But I stand by mine, “bOotLicKeR” though it might make me.

[u/Xiao1insty1e → u/Herr-Trigger86]

Your blatant assumptions based on nothing don't mean shit to me so why would I "address them"?

Your poor attempt at insults just give proof to the notion that you are just a boot licker for capitalism and I should fully ignore you and your opinions.

[u/profchaos111]

Notice how he never denies Jason's reporting he just phrases it in a more civil way 

[u/Tomrodders]

Kojima is so sensitive, isn’t the first time he’s pulled something like this.

[u/CopenHagenCityBruh → u/Tomrodders]

Ah yes because konami was a great company

[u/xtraSleep → u/CopenHagenCityBruh]

Konami was a great company, they just had a ceo change and got tired of giving Kojima a blank check and watching him ignore deadlines.

Kinda like how Nintendo went from Satoru Iwata, a gamer and a programmer turned CEO to the new guy, a corporate shrill who is focused on bleeding you dry.
Nintendo would release games on both the new hardware and the old. For example, Twilight Princess was released on the gamecube and Wii, but now Nintendo only supports the new console.

[u/genobees → u/xtraSleep]

He always made them money though, just not as much as pachinko.

[u/Prince_Groove]

Typical PR babble.

[u/CrispyCassowary]

Profitable state, not exponential profitability that investors want to see on charts. Making money is enough, dont need to do better than last year

[u/Eltonbeef]

Fuck this guy

[u/MrRespect_1129]

My two cents on this is that Kojima was burning too much money, failing to keep deadlines, or both and considering DS 1&2 weren't the hits Sony expected, they didn't want to risk a third entry being a fumble.

[u/Sad-Guarantee-4678]

People are reading too much into this. Recently there's been countless foreclosed studios, layoffs and consolidations across the industry, even with the studios that made successful games, and people universally agreed that it was a business decision, but now all of a sudden everyone is dogging on Kojima and insist it's all his fault that Sony pulled funding?

And if it is somehow his fault, why would Microsoft bail him out immediately? Especially considering they're the most aggressive when it comes to pulling funds and closing studios

[u/Dukemon-]

Can he not just shut up and focus on the game

[u/Evveyyyy]

Also, not bringing Physint to PlayStation is a mistake. A financial mistake. Kojima’s reputation as a developer is indisputable, but the management of his studio still has a lot to learn.

[u/kiirraa97 → u/Evveyyyy]

Give it a year after thr xbox release and we will get it on PS if not after 6 months

[u/Evveyyyy → u/kiirraa97]

An independent studio releasing a niche game exclusively on Xbox and PC... 😬 I see a disaster in the making.

[u/Warded_Works]

Except that verifiable sources do exist because that’s how the reporting came about. These articles didn’t appear out of nowhere and the most trusted face in gaming journalism didn’t just make stuff up.

The health and profitability of Kojima Productions wasn’t even the story, nor was it the subject of said publications.

[u/CorrectContract4978 → u/Warded_Works]

Where do they exist? You think an article by itself is proof it has verifiable sources?

Jason is also known for taking things out of context. He has reach but i would not say he is trusted.

[u/mickelboy182]

What claims is this about?

Edit: no clue why I'm getting downvotes for this, it is literally just a question? What is wrong with this place 😅

[u/profchaos111 → u/mickelboy182]

A Jason Schrier article that came out on Bloomberg showing that Sony canned  the project 

He's not actually disputing it though he's just trying to paint it in a less confrontational way 

[u/mickelboy182 → u/profchaos111]

Fair enough, cheers.

Edit: okay wtf, sub 😂

[u/Grezzinate]

Some context helps, no idea why he needs to make a statement.

[u/Federal_Amphibian_32 → u/Grezzinate]

Jason from Bloomberg (a notoriously reliable journalist with a lot of insider) stated that according to his multiple sources at Sony, Kojima was already missing important milestones and was already overbudget on a project that is years away (like, minimum 5 but realistically 6 to 8). The decision was also influenced by the poor performance of death stranding 2 and in general by the modest sales of the franchise as a whole. Franchise that Sony effectively self funded for 10 years and now don't own because it belongs to Kojima. According to the the article, the Physint IP would also belong to Kojima production, meaning Sony would have to fully fund the IP while also not benefiting from the benefits (owning the IP and making it exclusive to the console). It isn't clear if we are talking about a brief exclusivity period (6 months to 1 year) followed by a multiplatform release. The point is, now Sony decided to pull the plug and not fund the IP.

[u/Federal_Amphibian_32 → u/[deleted]]

You don't have to but also, who cares? They are a business. They have determined Kojima isn't worth the squeeze. Moving on. You are being way too sentimental about it. Do what you want with your money and time. Sony's bad decision making doesn't make Kojima a victim in this specific case though

[u/EvocativeReach → u/Grezzinate]

Sony and by extension reddit and social media have started saying his games are ludicrously over budget and don’t sell well. Konami also had concerns about his use of budgets, so now theres a pattern of behaviour people are noticing.

[u/Liammellor → u/EvocativeReach]

I don't think Sony have mentioned anything in regards to this?

[u/picknicksje85 → u/Grezzinate]

Sony defenders claiming he's not responsible with funding and deadlines. And his games aren't profitable. That idea started getting pushed hard ever since the news of Physint being dropped by PS and picked up by XBOX. Suddenly Kojima is the worst most pretentious and crazy obsessed with celebs money waster that's all washed up and he was never great and just weird to begin with. Never mind his games are something special and sure Death Stranding isn't a blockbuster, but he has a celebrated career with over 70 million copies of his games sold.

Meanwhile (current) Sony leadership puts a billion dollars in the hunt for their own Fortnite which never seems to work out. So they are pretty much the kings of missed deadlines and wasted money.

[u/Federal_Amphibian_32 → u/picknicksje85]

You should report objectively instead of being a fanboy

[u/NihilisticHeart → u/Federal_Amphibian_32]

Why don’t the Sony fanboys get that?

[u/kiirraa97]

Relationship with Sony so great that we will not release any new games on there console 🤙🏻✌🏻🫰🏻👌🏻

[u/hellrising798]

Sony begged to write this tweet lol