PlayStation reportedly dropped Hideo Kojima’s Physint over budget and missed

Hideo Kojima’s upcoming espionage action game Physint has lost PlayStation as its publisher after concerns over the project’s reportedly growing budget, missed deadlines, and commercial potential.

According to Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, PlayStation pulled out of the project after becoming concerned that Physint was on track to go significantly over budget despite still being years away from release. The game had also reportedly missed several deadlines during development.

The decision was also influenced by concerns about the commercial performance of Kojima Productions’ previous two games, Death Stranding andDeath Stranding 2: On the Beach. According to people familiar with the project, neither game met PlayStation’s revenue expectations.

PlayStation was also reportedly reluctant to invest hundreds of millions of dollars into another Kojima Productions title that would not remain permanently exclusive to its hardware. Both Death Stranding games were initially released as timed PlayStation exclusives before eventually arriving on other platforms, while Kojima Productions retained ownership of the franchise. 

According to Forbes, Kojima Productions may also face technical and production challenges following its split with Sony. Physint was previously being developed using Guerrilla Games’ Decima engine, which is closely associated with Sony’s first-party studios. With Kojima no longer working with Sony, it remains unclear whether the studio will continue using the technology or move to another engine.

The project’s film ambitions could also be affected by the split. Physint was designed as a high-concept game intended to blend elements of film and interactive entertainment, with Sony Pictures and its Columbia Pictures label previously involved in that side of the project. That partnership is reportedly no longer moving forward following Sony’s decision to step away.

Physint was announced in 2024 as a new espionage action game from Kojima Productions. While details remain limited, Kojima described it as a return to the genre he helped establish with Metal Gear Solid, the franchise that made him one of the industry’s most recognizable creators.

The game’s future changed dramatically this week when Kojima announced that Xbox would publish Physint. Kojima said on X that his studio had unexpectedly been informed over the summer that PlayStation was pulling out of funding the project.

The developer subsequently spent three months searching for a new partner to keep Physint alive, eventually reaching an agreement with Microsoft’s Xbox.

Microsoft plans to publish Physint on Xbox and PC, giving the game a wider release strategy than a traditional PlayStation-funded title. The deal also reportedly includes film and television rights for Physint and OD, Kojima Productions’ experimental horror game.

Xbox sees Kojima’s projects as an opportunity to expand beyond traditional game releases. The company has increasingly focused on bringing its gaming properties to other forms of entertainment, with film and television forming part of its broader strategy.

The move is particularly notable given Kojima’s long-standing relationship with PlayStation. Metal Gear Solid launched as a PlayStation exclusive in 1998 and became one of the platform’s defining games. After Kojima’s departure from Konami, he established Kojima Productions and entered into a long-term partnership with Sony.

That partnership eventually produced Death Stranding and its sequel, but Bloomberg reports that many of the PlayStation executives who had close relationships with Kojima have since left the company. PlayStation’s decision also comes as Sony has reportedly become more cautious about game development costs following several big-budget setbacks. 

The company has tightened production milestones after the failure of multiple live-service projects, including Concord, while also canceling several games.

For Kojima Productions, however, Physint will now continue under a new publishing arrangement. The game has yet to receive a public gameplay reveal or release date, but its move from PlayStation to Xbox represents one of the biggest changes to Kojima’s relationship with Sony in decades.

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