What started as a sketchy rumor earlier this week has been confirmed as fact today, as Sony Corp has officially announced a partnership with Hideo Kojima’s new game studio, Kojima Productions. Sony Computer Entertainment President and CEO Andrew House announced the partnership with Kojima in a recent video.

Speaking in Japanese, House personally introduced Kojima in the video.

“I have with me today the creator of a distinguished franchise that has contributed to the history of PlayStation,” House said. “He is one of the most creative talent in the history of games.”

“I’m happy to let you know that I have established my own independent studio today,” Kojima said. “And I’m excited to tell you that the first title from this new studio is a collaboration with PlayStation. I’m thrilled to embark on creating a new franchise with PlayStation that will give you all a new and innovative gaming experience, so please stay tuned.”

Sony wins the Kojima race

There has been no small amount of speculation regarding Kojima’s future after his highly publicized split from Konami corp, and nearly every major publisher had been rumored to be interested in the acclaimed game maker, whose recently released Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain has become a financial and critical success.

PlayStation seems like an obvious fit for Kojima, who has had close ties to the console since the release of Metal Gear Solid on the original PlayStation console in 1998. Since then, all Metal Gear Solid games had been PlayStation exclusive up until 2014’s Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes.

Sony appears to be thrilled that it was the game company that managed to snatch up Kojima first.

“All game fans including myself are looking forward to it,” House said to Kojima.”Kojima-san, on behalf of PlayStation and together with the fans, we’d like to offer our full support on your new journey.”

You can watch the full video announcement below:

Screenshot via PlayStation | YouTube