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.
“One major factor behind the decision was the commercial performance of Kojima’s previous two games, Death Stranding and its sequel, which didn’t meet PlayStation’s revenue expectations,” said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing information that’s not public, Schreier says in a new report posted on Bloomberg. “But the new project has also missed deadlines and was on track to be well over budget despite being years away from release,” the people said.
Anyone who has followed Hideo Kojima and his Metal Gear Solid series won’t be surprised by this, as consistently going over budget was one of the reasons behind the legendary game designer leaving Konami. However, timed exclusivity also played a part.
“PlayStation was reluctant to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in another game that wouldn’t remain permanently exclusive to the company’s own hardware. Both Death Stranding games were ‘timed’ PlayStation exclusives that were later released on other platforms. Kojima’s closely held studio, Kojima Productions, retained ownership of the franchises,”Schreier revealed.
Although Xbox is undergoing a major overhaul that has led to a significant wave of layoffs, the company saw Physint as a great investment opportunity, largely because the two entries in the Death Stranding series have performed well on PC, a platform that PlayStation is leaving behind for single-player games.
“One key factor is the PC platform, where the Death Stranding games have generated some revenue. Sony would therefore not benefit when Kojima Productions released a PC version of Physint on its own or with a different publisher, as it did for the first Death Stranding. But Xbox releases all of its games on PCs and plans to publish Physint on PC and Xbox,” the report said. As the deal also includes film and television rights for both Physint and OD, it will give Xbox more opportunities to expand beyond gaming.
No matter how justified, PlayStation’s decision to back away from Physint is only the last in a series of decisions that are souring the public perception of the brand. From hardware price increases to pursuing a live-service trendthat isn’t paying off, closing beloved studios like Bluepoint Games, and sunsetting disc production in 2028, the company seems to be doing its hardest to attract gamers’ enmity ahead of the PlayStation 6’s launch.
About the author: Francesco De Meo has been covering video games and technology since 2012, starting his career at small outlets like Gamersyndrome and GeekSnack.
After joining Wccftech gaming section in 2015, he quickly expanded his video gaming coverage with in-depth reporting, interviews with iconic industry figures such as Grasshopper Manufacture founder and No More Heroes creator Goichi “Suda51” Suda, Resident Evil series creator Shinji Mikami, Team NINJA’s president and Nioh series director Fumihiko Yasuda, and Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama, reviews and on-the-ground coverage of major industry events such as Gamescom and E3.
When he’s not reporting or reviewing, Francesco can be found playing the genres he loves most, spending time with his six cats, reading, writing music, playing guitar and drumming for his progressive rock band.
Follow Wccftech on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds.
Products mentioned
