We all felt here Push Square Towers, that something seemed strange with the exclusive announcement of PlayStation 5 Abandoned – and clearly we are not alone. Today, the internet is full of conspiracy theories, because the seemingly innocent survival game is getting a lot of attention. But is there more than it seems here, or is it really the work of an unknown Dutch indie team?
For those who missed the news earlier, Abandoned was announced as a “cinematic survival sim” on the PlayStation Blog. It was an exclusive bill for the PS5, which led to the promotion of all Sony’s social channels. It is not uncommon for the platform owner to highlight future software like this, but something was felt with the announcement that we could not put our finger on it.
For starters, there’s virtually no information about Dutch developer Blue Box Game Studios anywhere on the web. The entire history of the studio, from what we managed to figure out, includes a failed Kickstarter and a smartphone app. It had a website a few years ago, but it was full of substitute graphics and can only be accessed through Archive.org. It is under development now.
In the meantime, it is social media accounts have been abandoned for five years now, and this project is not mentioned at all. There is something strange in a studio announcing a massive project to be released this year, but it does not even acknowledge the existence of the game anywhere online.
Moreover, game director Hasan Kahraman has virtually no internet presence. We found a LinkedIn profile registered by someone who works at BBGS – which we assume is an acronym for Blue Box Game Studios – but the page does not contain any other information; there is no education and no professional history. So, of course, it’s weird.
Of course, conspiracy theories come into play here. Many compared the script to Moby Dick studios, which was a cunning Hideo Kojima used to announce Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain; The author used a trick similar to the now famous PT demo, which was presented during a Sony press conference as a random independent horror game – before leading to the Silent Hills revelation, of course.
Then is this Kojima’s work? Well, honestly we’re not sure. The developer of Death Stranding has suggested that he is preparing an announcement soon, but the Abandoned trailer seems too amateurish to be the work of the former Metal Gear man. We can certainly see how people connect, because this is straight from the veteran’s playing card, but we’re still not convinced.
Moreover, while researching this article, the open journalist, Venture Beat, Jeff Grubb, recorded a report that says that Kojima cannot be involved – because he is in talks with Microsoft to launch a title on Xbox platforms. Grubb – who is quite reliable – continues to admit that he is “unsure” if the Redmond company has closed the deal, but points to a figurine spotted on the shelf of Chief Phil Spencer as a potential clue. We don’t say a word about it!
To be honest, I’ve dominated over thousands and thousands of game ads on the PlayStation blog and there’s definitely something weird about Abandoned. We imagine there will be more changes in the coming days – and it will be fun if it really turns out to be there. It is a small Dutch team behind the project, wondering what the hell was going on.
As for the future of Kojima, well, that will be a whole other drama pare …