author: Adrian Piotrowski
Microsoft Isn't Buying Kojima Productions, Despite Figurine on the Shelf
Phil Spencer, the head of the Xbox brand, showed off the figurine of Ludens - Kojima Productions' mascot - placed on a shelf during his stream. This was enough to cause a sensation on the internet.
Microsoft is planning to buy Kojima Productions - such information made rounds on the Internet yesterday. The source? Yesterday's Microsoft virtual conference, where the head of the Xbox franchise Phil Spencer took the floor. In the background, on his shelf, you could see a few accessories. Nintendo Switch, a skull from Watch Dogs Legion, and the mascot and symbol of Kojima Productions, namely - Ludens, placed next to the Xbox logo. And it was this figurine that sparked a ton of speculation on Twitter.
Two camps arose on Twitter. One was very eager to analyze everything that Spencer put on the shelf, intentionally or not. The other went a step further and started posting sarcastic comments about Microsoft not only planning to buy out Kojima Productions, but also Ubisoft, Nintendo and the rights to the Silent Hill series. Of course, at the moment there is no talk of the acquisition of the Japanese studio by the American corporation, but after buying Bethesda, no scenario should be excluded.
This is not the first time that Microsoft is linked with the developers of Death Stranding. In 2015, there was a rumor that the company was to take over the rights to Silent Hills, which was canceled by Konami, but the news dismissed by Spencer himself at the time.
The whole situation can be partly justified by the fact that the head of Xbox hid some easter eggs on his shelves a few times. On July 1, last year, he placed the Xbox Series S between the books to show off its compact size. Since then, fans have started looking for other clues on subsequent streams. In September, Todd Howard's wardrobe was spotted to contain items related to Indiana Jones, and in January Bethesda, already under Microsoft, announced a new game with the famous adventurer. Of course, the marketing department denied that this was a planned marketing stunt, but some did not believe these words.