Hideo Kojima: ‘Abandoned’ conspiracy theories and rumors were ‘quite a nuisance’

Video game legend Hideo Kojima shared his thoughts on the string of wild theories last year linking him to the elusive game “Abandoned,” Blue Box Game Studios, and its developer Hasan Kahraman. While fans may have enjoyed following those theories unfold for months, the game creator has now responded, saying they were “quite a nuisance.”

Kojima discussed game rumors with Geoff Keighley in a new episode of his Spotify podcast “Brain Structure,” including speculations that he was involved in the “Abandoned” development. The creator of “Death Stranding” said the rumors and theories had been a nuisance because fans kept sending him photos of Kahraman.

“They still send me collages and deep fake images, like twenty a day, it’s really quite a nuisance,” Kojima said (via VGC). In the same episode, Kojima clarified that he has never spoken with the “Abandoned” developer.

There have been several supposed clues that fans believed were suggesting Blue Box was a decoy company Kojima created to initially hide his involvement in “Abandoned.” Blue Box fired up the rumors even further in a now-deleted tweet in June 2021, “Abandoned = (First letter S, Last letter L).” Fans quickly assumed it was a reference to “Silent Hill.”

The idea of Kojima creating a decoy studio to tease an upcoming project is not new. He did it before for “Metal Gear Solid 5,” using a fake company called “Moby Dick Studio.” However, Kojima said in his podcast that fans should have known that he would not repeat a stunt he already did.

“When we did that Moby Dick thing, you [Keighley] were in on the whole thing, and that was pretty fun,” Kojima said. “But people should know that I wouldn’t do the same thing twice.”

As for the development of “Abandoned,” Blue Box has not provided new updates for some time now. The studio previously promised fans a prologue with playable gameplay, which it has yet to deliver.

Now that the rumors of Kojima’s involvement in “Abandoned” have been debunked, Kojima has some words of advice for Kahraman. “I don’t think there’s much he can do or say at this point,” Kojima said. “But if he releases the game, people might understand, so maybe he should just hurry up and release it.”