Xbox Hires Kim Swift for Cloud Gaming Venture, Possibly Related to Kojima Project

Today, Xbox Game Studios Publishing announced the hiring of Kim Swift, best known for her work as a developer on Portal and Left 4 Dead at Valve. Swift is being brought on to “collaborate with independent studios to build games for the cloud.” According to Venture Beat’s Jeff Grubb, one of these studios is Kojima Productions. Earlier this year, Grubb reported that Xbox was in negotiations with Hideo Kojima to produce an Xbox Series X exclusive game, though it was unclear if a deal had been struck. Apparently, Swift’s hiring is part of a plan for that project in particular.

The announcement of Swift’s hiring can be found in the Tweet embedded below.

As with any rumor, readers are advised to take this with a grain of salt, but Grubb tends to be a reliable source. In the past, Kojima has expressed an interest in game streaming, which led to rumors that he might be planning something with Google Stadia. Swift recently departed Stadia where she was a game design director. It’s not hard to see how her hiring could have some relation to the outreach Xbox has made to Kojima. The legendary creator has been very quiet about his next project after Death Stranding, but fans are understandably excited to see what he might bring to the table next.

Regardless of what role, if any, Kojima played in Swift’s hiring, it makes a lot of sense given Xbox’s current direction. The company has been making a lot of efforts to expand cloud streaming options, and the number of platforms supported by Xbox Cloud Gaming. Swift has an awesome resume, having worked at a number of major companies, including Amazon and EA. It will certainly be exciting to see what she brings to the table at Xbox!

Do you believe the rumors that Kojima will be making a new Xbox exclusive game? What do you think of Swift’s hiring? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to talk all things gaming!