Sacred Symbols+, Episode 177: A Sit-Down With Hasan Kahraman (Patreon)

Hey. Colin here. So, I've been in the gaming industry for about two decades now, and -- as many of you know -- my 'beat' has long been PlayStation. I must admit, I've found the ongoing, year-long saga behind the PS5-centric indie game Abandoned so darn mysterious, almost intoxicating in its strangeness primarily because I've been around for so long, and I've never seen or heard of anything quite like what's gone on with this project. The long-and-short is, I've wanted to talk to the game's lead, Hasan Kahraman, since Abandoned was revealed on PlayStation Blog nearly a year ago to the date, and though we've corresponded via email, we've never been able to get something together. Well, until right now. I sat down with Hasan -- the man some assume is Hideo Kojima, but who definitely isn't -- in what is, as far as I know, his first audio and video interview. And I asked him everything I've been dying to talk to him about, particularly from development, publishing, funding, and marketing perspectives, in order to try and suss out just what's going on. Frankly, I think most of you are going to be left with many more questions than answers (I sure have been), but... well... this wouldn't be Abandoned coverage without a thick haze of nebulousness and a sharp ratcheting-up of the intrigue.