Following its announcement in 2024, PlayStation and Kojima Productions didn't talk much about Physint, the game that would mark Hideo Kojima's return to the stealth-action genre that made him one of the most renowned game designers with the Metal Gear series. The long silence was broken this week in a rather surprising way, as it was announced that PlayStation backed away from the project, only for Kojima Productions to partner with Xbox. According to a new report from Jason Schreier, the game's budget was among the reasons for PlayStation's pivot, although timed exclusivity also played a part in the decision. […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/playstation-walked-away-kojima-physint-budget-exclusivity/

So here’s the bit everyone wanted after this week’s Kojima-Xbox bombshell: why did PlayStation actually walk away from Physint?

Bloomberg has the answer, and it’s less “creative differences” and more straightforward cold feet. According to sources close to the situation, the Death Stranding series simply hasn’t performed the way Sony wanted, and that history weighed heavily on the decision. Given Death Stranding 2 reportedly shifted over 2.5 million copies, that’s a fairly damning read on what PlayStation considers a “success” these days.

Budget blowouts and a ticking clock

The bigger issues, though, were practical. Physint had already missed deadlines and was on track to run well over budget, despite still being years from release. Add to that Sony’s reluctance to sink “hundreds of millions of dollars” into a game that would only stay exclusive for a limited window, and cancelling starts to look less like a snub and more like basic spreadsheet maths.

Kojima isn’t left stranded. After three months hunting for a new home, Xbox has picked up PHYSINT, with Kojima himself calling it a “genre-defining action-espionage title.” Whether that framing survives contact with Microsoft’s own budget conversations is a different question entirely.

---

Want more updates like this? Click right here!

We learned earlier this week that Sony had pulled out of PHYSINT, forcing Kojima Productions to find a new publisher and ultimately landing with Xbox. Now, a new report has shed some light on why the relationship between Sony and Kojima broke down. 

According to Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, PHYSINT had already slipped past several milestones and was trending over budget. Sony was also concerned about long‑term profitability, as Death Stranding and its sequel did not meet the company’s revenue expectations.

Another factor appears to be the changing landscape inside PlayStation. Many of the executives who originally backed Kojima Productions after the Konami fallout have since left the company. Their replacements were reportedly less invested in continuing the partnership, leaving PHYSINT without the internal advocates it once would've had.

On the other side, Microsoft says it is “honored” to work with Kojima and plans to collaborate on his film / TV efforts alongside games. Microsoft is also excited about the prospect of benefitting from Kojima's releases on the PC platform, as titles like Death Stranding had big followings on platforms like Steam, and Microsoft has the infrastructure in house to publish on PC, something that Sony wasn't doing until recently, and has now stopped doing again.

PHYSINT remains in development and is described as a “genre-defining action-espionage” game. Unfortunately, there is no word on how long the game will take to finish, or when we'll get our first look at it in action.

KitGuru Says: Sony’s reasoning makes sense from a business perspective, but it is still surprising to see the company walk away from a prestige creator at a time when its single‑player output has slowed. PHYSINT landing at Xbox is a major shift and one that could pay off significantly for Microsoft.

The post Sony’s split from Kojima explained in new report first appeared on KitGuru.

Sony just walked away from a Kojima game, and Xbox picked it up before the dust even settled.

In a short statement, Sony confirmed it made the “difficult decision to step away” from PHYSINT, the Metal Gear-style espionage project from Kojima Productions. No blog post, just a quick line on social media. Minutes later, Xbox confirmed it’s stepping in to publish the game instead.

An update from PlayStation Studios: After careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision to step away from collaborating with KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS on its project PHYSINT. We continue to have great admiration for Hideo Kojima's vision for the game.

Our relationship…

— PlayStation (@PlayStation) September 10, 2026

What actually happened

Kojima cleared up the timeline himself. Sony apparently pulled the plug back in mid-June, catching his studio off guard. He spent the next three months shopping the project around before landing with Xbox, a partner he’s already worked with on OD, his upcoming horror game.

Xbox CEO Asha Sharma welcomed the move, saying creators have choices about where they build their games and that Kojima chose Xbox this time.

Don’t expect it soon

This is now the second Kojima Productions game tied to Xbox, alongside OD. PHYSINT itself was born because fans kept begging for something closer to old-school Metal Gear, and it’s still years out. Kojima estimated back in 2025 that it needed another five to six years of work, so we’re looking at 2030 or later before anyone touches it.

Sony and Kojima still have Death Stranding tying them together, but PHYSINT jumping ship is a real shift for a creator whose name has been glued to PlayStation for decades.

---

Want more updates like this? Click right here!

Roughly a decade ago, Konami had a very dramatic falling out with Hideo Kojima, the legendary game director behind the Metal Gear Solid series. As a result, Sony garnered some swift PR by helping Kojima start up his new studio and funding his latest IP, Death Stranding. Now, almost another ten years on, Sony has split up from Kojima.

In a statement today, Sony confirmed that it has decided to no longer partner with Kojima Productions on their game PhysInt, which was described as a new tactical espionage series, essentially a spiritual successor to Metal Gear. While Sony's statement downplayed the cancellation somewhat and made it sound like Kojima and Sony would work together again in the future, Kojima's own statement on the matter delivers a very different takeaway.

In his own statement on what happened, Kojima said: “As confirmed earlier through our official channels, in mid-June of this year, we unexpectedly received notice from PlayStation Studios that they would cancel the PHYSINT project. PHYSINT is an important project both to me personally and to KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS. Determined to keep the project alive, we have spent the last three months searching tirelessly for a new partner.”

And it turns out that partner is none other than … Xbox: “In the course of seeking advice and pursuing negotiations with people across many fields, we found in XBOX a partner with whom we share a common vision for the future, and we have decided to team up with them once again. Please rest assured that development of PHYSINT, our genre-defining action-espionage title, is ongoing and will continue moving forward.”

Microsoft began forming a relationship with Kojima a few years ago by funding an experimental horror project titled OD: Knock. Now, Xbox will also be publishing Kojima's PHYSINT as well and it is unclear if either game will release on PlayStation consoles.

KitGuru Says: PHYSINT should have been a slam dunk with long-time fans, but now this will end up being an easy win for Xbox, who look primed to deliver on the single-player games front next generation, an area that has been sorely lacking for PlayStation Studios over the past few years.

The post Kojima moves to Xbox after PlayStation tried to cancel new stealth game first appeared on KitGuru.

Visionary game designer Hideo Kojima, largely known to the mainstream as the creator of Metal Gear Solid and Death Stranding, recently chimed in on Sony's unpopular decision to stop making PlayStation discs starting in January 2028. Kojima, a huge movie buff, was a guest of the Italian film festival Il Cinema in Piazza (which takes place annually in Rome) and answered this question with his usual thoughtfulness and keen insight. He is understandably sad, but also pointed out that this is just "step one" of the digital transition and that he finds cloud gaming even more frightening because then the data […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/kojima-playstation-discs-2028-cloud-gaming-nightmare/

Xbox’s ongoing internal reset has raised concerns about the future of several first‑party projects, but one high‑profile game appears to be unaffected. According to a new report, Hideo Kojima’s Xbox exclusive, OD, will continue development as planned despite wider cuts and cancellations across the organisation.

IGN reports that Microsoft’s restructuring does not include any changes to Kojima Productions’ deal with Xbox. OD, described as an experimental cloud‑powered horror title, remains in active development and is still part of Xbox’s future slate.

This update arrives amid growing uncertainty surrounding the platform. Over the past month, reports have indicated that several Xbox studios are facing potential closure and that multiple unannounced projects have already been cancelled. While not confirmed to be a result of Xbox cuts, IO Interactive just announced that it lost its publishing partner for Project Fantasy, a new Action RPG that had been linked to Xbox in the past.

Kojima and Xbox announced their partnership a few years ago, in 2022. At the time, Kojima was still heavily focused on Death Stranding 2, but that game has been out for around a year now, freeing him up to get OD over the finish line.

KitGuru Says: Xbox has not had much success tapping into the Japanese game development market. The company ended its partnership with PlatinumGames during the Xbox One era and abruptly sold off Tango Gameworks just weeks after shipping a surprisingly popular game. Cancelling Kojima's game after all of that would hurt Xbox's reputation even further. 

The post Xbox deal with Kojima ‘unaffected’ by upcoming cost cuts first appeared on KitGuru.

The rumored Xbox cuts are underway, with at least five first-party studios potentially closing: Double Fine, Compulsion Games, Ninja Theory, Undead Labs, and Arkane Lyon. But Xbox CEO Asha Sharma is also trimming Xbox's funding for third-party studios: today, they officially pulled out of funding Project Fantasy, IO Interactive's fantasy online action RPG announced in early 2023 and still largely under wraps, given that the Danish developer was busy making 007 First Light. IO Interactive revealed the news in a tweet, confirming that Xbox's decision inevitably forces the studio to lay off staff. However, they also made it clear that […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/xbox-funding-purge-io-interactive-rpg-kojima-od/

In Entertainment Weekly's piece about the 25th anniversary of Xbox and the studio's push for Hollywood adaptations (including a Sea of Thieves movie), we also got a few more updates about some of the most interesting Xbox projects, including Kojima's OD, Bethesda's TES VI, and Arkane's Marvel's Blade. Let's start with The Elder Scrolls VI, which is definitely the biggest of these projects in terms of fanbase. Todd Howard, head of Bethesda Game Studios, acknowledged the pressure of having to "get it right", as well as the long wait since 2011's The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. TES VI is our […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/kojima-od-horrors-limits-todd-howard-tes-vi-blade/

Hideo Kojima has given what appears to be his final word on Generative AI (GenAI) technology and whether it's something he's really interested in exploring as part of the artistic process and its capability for creating art. Speaking to The Washington Post (spotted by Kotaku), even after a GenAI version of Kojima appeared in a Prada commercial just last month, the Death Stranding and Metal Gear Solid creator has said he's "not interested" in GenAI art. "Art is life. But in 50 years, 100 years, I don't know. Maybe AI could create art, but while I live, I don't think […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/maybe-in-100-years-genai-could-create-art-hideo-kojima-but-hes-not-interested-in-it/

BioWare veteran Mark Darrah, who we recently saw put out a defence of Anthem, has also potentially found a solution for the issue of video game budgets reaching unsustainable levels that isn't just 'hope you have a hit live service game to keep paying everyone.' It's a solution taken from the film industry, which basically points to something game creators like Hideo Kojima were already doing, and argues that more creators should take note. Spotted by Eurogamer, Darrah believes that game publishers and developers can help get their games made through product placement, just like the kind we saw in […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/bioware-vet-argues-product-placement-could-help-studios-pay-for-their-games/

Although Hideo Kojima's games, such as the Death Stranding series, can be divisive, anyone who has experienced them cannot deny that the legendary game designer's approach is unique. According to actor Troy Baker, who plays Higgs in the series, this stems from a vision that prioritizes making the player "walk away impacted than entertained," a philosophy that allows him to "swing big" in a way that feels miraculous. "I think that there's a lot of people that are making games – and I don't blame them – that, right now, are trying to razzle dazzle the player the entire way […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/hideo-kojima-makes-games-metal-gear-way/

A new report from The Hollywood Reporter reveals that a Metal Gear Solid movie is in development, with Final Destination duo Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein behind it. The film is part of a new set of movies Lipovsky and Stein will be making for Sony, as the pair have just been signed to Sony Pictures. Details on the film are still entirely unclear, though the promotional image from Columbia Pictures suggest that it'll be an adaptation of the first Metal Gear Solid game, though it's realistically all still up in the air at the moment. "Metal Gear Solid was […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/metal-gear-solid-movie-in-the-works-from-final-destination-adam-b-stein-zach-lipovsky/