Banner, the official website of Sony SIE Global Studios, quietly put Kojima Studios' "Death Stranding" into Sony's first-party game, which made everyone suspect that Sony was ready to acquire Kojima Studios. Hideo Kojima's Twitter also retweeted this Banner image, which added to everyone's suspicions. However, Hideo Kojima made a "180° turn" shortly after, indicating that Kojima Studios would continue to exist as an independent game studio.
Hideo Kojima tweeted on his twitter that he was sorry for the misunderstanding, but that Studio Kojima would continue to be an independent studio.
Kojima Studio was founded in 2005 at Konami Productions, which, as Konami's ace studio, had opened works such as Metal Gear Solid and Ultimate Zone (ZOE), and founded Kojima Studio at the end of 2015 after Hideo Kojima broke away from Konami. As the studio's first work after independence, it was also exclusive on the PS console platform for a limited time, and received financing from Sony. But in July last year, Hideo Kojima signed a letter of intent with Microsoft to collaborate on a new Xbox game, which according to well-known uncle Jeff Grubb is still in progress.