Hideo Kojima has responded to the rumors and fan theories that he was involved in the development of Blue Box Game Studios’ Abandoned and that it was secretly the next entry in the Silent Hill franchise. Kojima has confirmed he has no involvement and calls rumors of any connection to Blue Box a “nuisance.”

“Well, this one, I really didn’t understand at first,” Kojima said. “Users just kept sending me pictures of this Hassan. They still send me collages and deep fake images – like 20 a day. It’s really quite a nuisance. This has been going on for almost two years now. And Geoff, you remember when we did that Moby Dick thing? You were in on the whole thing, and that was pretty fun. But people should know that I wouldn’t do the same thing twice.”

Kojima was speaking to The Game Awards’ Geoff Keighley on his Spotify podcast Brain Structure and discussed the situation that began when Abandoned was announced in April 2021 on PlayStation.Blog.

There was little known about the studio and the internet quickly started theorizing that this was a secret project by Kojima as there were some aesthetic similarities to P.T. Furthermore, Kojima had done something like this before with the reveal of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain when it said to be a new game from a new studio called Moby Dick Studio.

Following the reveal and initial hype by fans hoping for some big Kojima surprise, it was confirmed that this was not a Kojima Productions game but in fact a game by the actual Blue Box Game Studios and director Hasan Kahraman. The whole situation became a mess and the game has yet to be released save for a “realtime experience patch” that was simply a four-second tease.

Kojima was taken by surprise as much as anyone when this was all going on, and he is still dealing with the fallout of this game being falsely linked to him. He also shared that his fans should know better and realize he would never play the same hand twice.

Alongside saying he has yet to speak with Hassan, Kojima shared some words of advice for the director and encouraged him to let his work do the talking.

“I don’t think there’s much he can do or say at this point, but if he releases the game, then people might understand,” Kojima said. “So, maybe he should just hurry up and release it? It will die down after that. Plus, I’m not involved with it in any way. I don’t know who started this rumor, but … I think this is fake news based off of users’ wishes and hopes.

“So, Mr. Hassan, I’m sure things weren’t easy and, as a creator, I think it’s ok to dismiss it completely. But now that there’s been a buzz and things have gone viral, you should take advantage of it. If you create something good and share it with everyone, they will learn the truth. I think maybe that’s what you should do.

“Fake news is a bad thing, but now that we’ve both gained attention from all of this, let’s boost morale and create something good. Once they have made something, the users who play it will understand it’s not Silent Hill and I’m not involved, but they will still grow to love their game. I think there is a way to turn fake news around positively. I say this, but I’ve never met the guy.”

While Kojima may not have been involved in Abandoned, he has begun teasing his next projects. Alongside saying one of his new games is “almost like a new medium” and has the potential to change the video game and film industries, he’s also confirmed that Elle Fanning and Shioli Kutsuna will be part of one of them.

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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.