In the worst kept secret in gaming, Hideo Kojima’s contract with Konami has come to an end. The legendary developer had been in an ongoing dispute with Konami which saw Konami remove Kojima’s name and that of Kojima Productions from Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.

Kojima’s apparent unemployment didn’t last long, though. Within about 24 hours of a report by Japanese business publication Nikkei stating the Kojima was no longer employed by Konami, Sony Computer Entertainment announced a partnership with a newly founded version of Kojima Productions to produce a new franchise.

Let’s start with official announcement video featuring both Kojima and Sony Computer Entertainment CEO Andrew House.

Very little is known about Kojima Productions and Sony’s plans in the future. For now, Kojima Productions is hiring staff for its upcoming project but reportedly is already employing members of the former Konami Kojima Productions team.

One of the interesting tidbits of information about Kojima Productions is something translated from the Nikkei article. When they reported that Sony was actively pursuing Kojima, they mentioned that Kojima’s work would not be complete console exclusive. That leaves a few options for Sony including timed exclusivity and console exclusivity. NeoGAF’s translation of the article suggested a timed exclusive while Polygon claims Kojima Productions’ first game will be console exclusive. Either way, that makes me happy as a primarily PC gamer.

The good news is that Hideo Kojima is staying in the industry (not that there was any doubt) and is getting a big budget that he will most certainly put to good use. There are many unanswered questions from this move that I wouldn’t anticipate getting any answers to any time soon. Since it’s Kojima, though, I’m willing to give everyone a pass on that for now.

Sources: PC Gamer, GameSpot