In context: Hideo Kojima made a surprise appearance during the Xbox Bethesda showcase yesterday to announce a partnership between Kojima Productions and Microsoft that will utilize the latter company's cloud technology. The Metal Gear Solid creator has a 24-year-long close relationship with Sony, and while he insists that hasn't changed, fans still launched a petition hoping to cancel this Xbox-exclusive game.

Kojima was his usual elusive self during the Xbox Game Studios partnership announcement. He said Kojima Productions would create a game he has always wanted to make, "a completely new game that no one has ever experienced or seen before." The company will use Microsoft's Azure cloud platform to make the "never-seen-before concept."

The reveal brought concerns among PlayStation fans over whether Kojima would be ending or scaling back his work on the platform. "After the announcement of our partnership with Microsoft using the cloud technology, many people have asked us about our collaboration with [Sony Interactive Entertainment]," Kojima Productions tweeted. "Please be assured that we continue to have a very good partnership with PlayStation as well."

After the announcement of our partnership with Microsoft using the cloud technology, many people have asked us about our collaboration with SIE. Please be assured that we continue to have a very good partnership with PlayStation® as well.#KojimaProductions https://t.co/mVOELwDuk9

— KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS (Eng) (@KojiPro2015_EN) June 13, 2022

Despite reports that the studio is working on both the cloud-powered game and another big game for PlayStation, possibly Death Stranding 2, a few people were so unhappy with Kojima's branching out that they started a Change.org petition called "cancel Kojima Xbox exclusive game."

The petition says Kojima has "been blinded by greed," adding that not everyone has access to an internet connection fast enough to stream games, or the money to buy a new console/build a new PC. The petition ends with "Please Kojima, dont [sic] leave us," so you can imagine where the allegiance of the creator lies. Unless the whole thing is a troll, which is always a possibility.

Death Stranding was a PlayStation exclusive until it came to PC—something else that brought a barrage of outrage from PlayStation fans. A cloud-powered Xbox/PC game from Kojima certainly sounds like an interesting prospect that could perform well, much to the disappointment of the 1,500 people who signed the petition.

h/t: Jon Cartwright