Hideo Kojima says the Abandoned conspiracies are 'a nuisance'

Hideo Kojima attends Tribeca Talks: Tribeca Games Presents: Hideo Kojima With Norman Reedus - 2019 Tribeca Film Festival at BMCC Tribeca PAC on April 25, 2019 in New York City.
(Image credit: Theo Wargo/Getty Images)

Hideo Kojima has finally addressed the never-ending Abandoned conspiracy theories, 18 months after fans became convinced that he was linked to Blue Box Studio's survival horror.

The developer sat down with Geoff Keighley on the latest episode of his podcast Brain Structure and part of their discussion was game rumours (thanks VGC). Kojima brought up the persistent rumours that he's somehow involved in Abandoned, with fans convinced that he's secretly the lead developer Hasan Kahraman and the game is actually a new Silent Hill.

"Users just keep sending me pictures of this 'Hasan.' They still send me collages and deep fake images like 20 a day. It's really quite a nuisance," he said. Later in the podcast, he said: "I have never spoken with Hasan, the game is yet to be released. I don't think there's much he can do or say at this point, but if he releases the game, people might understand, so maybe he should just hurry up and release it."

Kojima also said that he wouldn't pull the same trick twice, referring to the way that Metal Gear Solid 5 was initially revealed under the pseudonym of developer Moby Dick Studios. "When we did that Moby Dick thing, you were in on the whole thing, and that was pretty fun," he said to Keighley. "But people should know I wouldn't do the same thing twice."

Blue Box Studios responded to Kojima's statement in a tweet, the first bit of activity from the studio since early April. "We want to thank @Kojima_Hideo for addressing the conspiracies openly," it read. "It has been a burden and not cool for both fans and developers. We hope everyone can close this for good. We are working hard on Abandoned and we would like to thank you for all your patience!" The developer also asked "fans to stop harassing Hideo Kojima regarding Abandoned messages," adding: "This is not acceptable and is not entertaining."

Although Abandoned was revealed with relatively little fanfare back in April 2021, Silent Hill fans became convinced in the months after that it was secretly a Silent Hill game in disguise. An entire subreddit, The Blue Box Conspiracy, has been dedicated to documenting every move of both Kojima and Kahraman. The studio said in October last year that the rampant conspiracies had led to members of the team receiving death threats, "online but unfortunately also physically."

Development on Abandoned has been rocky. Blue Box had to clarify that its game wasn't cancelled back in March after the studio deleted most of its tweets with game details, including one about an upcoming playable demo (that still hasn't happened). A further report in June suggested that the project was in disarray, with team members calling Kahraman "duplicitous and prone to mood swings," with the game allegedly wildly swinging from concept to concept.

Mollie Taylor
Features Producer

Mollie spent her early childhood deeply invested in games like Killer Instinct, Toontown and Audition Online, which continue to form the pillars of her personality today. She joined PC Gamer in 2020 as a news writer and now lends her expertise to write a wealth of features, guides and reviews with a dash of chaos. She can often be found causing mischief in Final Fantasy 14, using those experiences to write neat things about her favourite MMO. When she's not staring at her bunny girl she can be found sweating out rhythm games, pretending to be good at fighting games or spending far too much money at her local arcade.  

Read more
Hollow Knight: Silksong — Hornet, the heroine of the Hollow Knight sequel, leaping into action.
The cake was a lie, but Silksong 'is real, progressing and will release' say devs, after flurry of conspiracy theories revealed to be a 'nothingburger'
It sounds like we'll have to wait even longer to find out what the deal is with OD, Hideo Kojima and Jordan Peele's game, movie, and 'new form of media' that had the trailer with all the faces cryptically talking at us
Silent Hill f transmission trailer screenshots
'We've been keeping fans waiting for an awfully long time': We finally got to see more of Silent Hill f and boy, does it look great
LONDON, ENGLAND - MAY 17: Hideo Kojima attends the UK premiere of "Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga" at the BFI IMAX Waterloo on May 17, 2024 in London, England. (Photo by Jeff Spicer/Getty Images)
Hideo Kojima is 'tired' while crunching on Death Stranding 2 and wonders how long he'll be able to keep making games: 'Every day feels like I'm racing against the clock'
The character Neil in Death Stranding 2, who here is posing like Solid Snake.
Hideo Kojima really just went 'screw it' and made Metal Gear Stranding
Bloodborne in excelsis.
Retired PlayStation exec reckons Bloodborne PC hasn't happened because Miyazaki 'cannot do it himself, but he doesn’t want anyone else to touch it'
Latest in Horror
Resident Evil Village - Lady Dimitrescu
'It really truly changed my life in every possible way': Lady Dimitrescu actor says her Resident Evil Village role was just as transformative for her as it was for roughly half the internet in 2021
Silent Hill f transmission trailer screenshots
'We've been keeping fans waiting for an awfully long time': We finally got to see more of Silent Hill f and boy, does it look great
One of Repo's player characters, resembling a yellow pedal bin with googly eyes, encounters a skeletal, open mouthed face with glowing yellow eyes.
After REPO 'kinda blew up', its developer asks the community for advice on how to make matchmaking lobbies
R.E.P.O. screenshots
REPO is my new favourite co-op horror game, which combines Lethal Company's looting loop with Content Warning's zany monsters
Blood Typers
Blood Typers is a budget-priced fusion of Typing of the Dead and co-op survival horror
Phasmophobia Bleasdale Farm rework images
Phasmophobia is getting a big rework for one of its oldest maps, turning the Bleasdale Farmhouse into a horrifying and confusing maze
Latest in News
Man facing camera
The Day Before studio reportedly sues Russian website for calling infamous disaster-game a 'scam'
Will Poulter holding a CD ROM
'What are most games about? Killing': Black Mirror Season 7 includes a follow-up to 2018 interactive film Bandersnatch
Casper Van Dien in Starship Troopers
Sony, which is making a Helldivers 2 movie, is also making a new Starship Troopers movie, but it's not based on the Starship Troopers movie we already have
Assassin's Creed meets PUBG
Ubisoft is reportedly talking to Tencent about creating a new business entity to manage Assassin's Creed and other big games
Resident Evil Village - Lady Dimitrescu
'It really truly changed my life in every possible way': Lady Dimitrescu actor says her Resident Evil Village role was just as transformative for her as it was for roughly half the internet in 2021
Storm trooper hero
Another live service shooter is getting shut down, this time before it even launched on Steam