PlayStation Studios website banner quietly adds Death Stranding, but don't get too excited yet

The official website for PlayStation Studios has slightly modified its top banner to include Death Stranding, which was developed by Kojima Productions and therefore isn't technically a PlayStation Studios game.

The obvious implication is that this could be a sign that Sony is about to buy Kojima Productions, but there's just enough reason to be skeptical of that assumption. For one, Sony published Death Stranding and therefore owns the rights to the IP even though Kojima Productions is still an independent studio.

Games from external studios published by Sony have been referred to as "first-party" PlayStation games in the past - such was the case with Ratchet & Clank before Insomniac was purchased by Sony - so it wouldn't be without precedent for PlayStation to simply include Death Stranding in its showing of first-party titles.

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That said, the rest of the games in the banner are from bonafide first-party studios, making Death Stranding the odd man out here. Plus, you'll all remember something eerily similar to this happening just before Sony purchased Demon's Souls remake developer Bluepoint Games. Adding to that, it's a little conspicuous that PlayStation Studios is just now adding Death Stranding to its banner when the game's been out since 2019 - even the director's cut is several months old by now.

Now, you'll have to forgive me for my tinfoil hat, but it's worth noting that Kojima himself moved studios earlier this month, which led to plenty of speculation from fans about a potential Sony project. In truth, the move is likely due to completely unrelated reasons, but it's an interesting coincidence at the very least.

Here are all of the upcoming PS5 games confirmed for 2022 and beyond.