TL;DR: Sony abruptly canceled Hideo Kojima‘s PHYSINT in mid-June, prompting Kojima Productions to seek a new publisher; Xbox will now publish both PHYSINT and OD after Kojima spent months finding a partner to continue development of the big‑budget, motion‑capture-heavy espionage title.
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Hideo Kojima and Sony are temporarily separating, and Kojima’s next two games will be Now the famed visionary clarifies some details on what happened behind the scenes
After supporting Death Stranding 1 & 2, Sony has now opted not to publish Hideo Kojima’s next games. This has led to a breakup of sorts between Kojima and Sony after decades of working together. Sony was originally set to publish Kojima’s new Metal Gear successor PHYSINT, but that deal fell apart.
Kojima has now flipped sides to join with Xbox, and Microsoft’s games division will publish both of KojiPro’s new games; the spine-tingling OD and the tactical espionage sim PHYSINT. Kojima has revealed new details on what happened, confirming that Sony abruptly cancelled PHYSINT with no warning back in June.
- Read more: Xbox to publish Hideo Kojima’s new stealth game PHYSINT
“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.”
There have not been any details associated with costs, but that’s believed to be the main reason Sony passed on PHYSINT; back in 2025, Kojima confirmed a cast of characters for the game that would be played by real actors, implying that PHYSINT would be a big-budget affair with complex motion capture similar to the Death Stranding games, which were an expensive duology to produce.
“PHYSINT is an important project both to me personally and to KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS,” Kojima said.
“Determined to keep the project alive, we have spent the last three months searching tirelessly for a new partner.
“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.”
This is the second time that Hideo Kojima has found himself in this position; the first was back in 2015 when Konami abruptly fired Kojima, cancelled his in-production horror game Silent Hills, and essentially cast Kojima out into the wild.
Why did Sony cancel PHYSINT after initially planning to publish it?
Sony abruptly cancelled PHYSINT in mid-June, and the story does not give an official reason beyond that notice. It also says there were no details about costs, but that budget concerns are believed to be the main reason Sony passed on the project.
Question #2
What does Xbox publishing PHYSINT mean for the game’s development moving forward?
It means PHYSINT is still active and will keep moving forward, even after Sony cancelled the project in mid-June. Kojima said the team spent the last three months finding a new partner, and they settled on Xbox to help publish it. The story also says development is ongoing, so the change is about who is publishing the game, not about the project stopping.
Question #3
How does PHYSINT fit into Kojima Productions’ current lineup alongside OD?
PHYSINT is one of Kojima Productions’ next two Xbox-published games, alongside OD. OD is the project currently taking priority, while PHYSINT is the tactical espionage title and is still in the planning and ongoing development phase after Sony cancelled it.
Question #4
How far along was PHYSINT when PlayStation Studios cancelled the project in June?
another TweakTown story does not say how far along PHYSINT was when PlayStation Studios cancelled it in June. It only says Kojima received notice in mid-June and then spent the last three months तलाश searching for a new partner while development of PHYSINT continued.
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The dev went on to create Kojima Productions, an independent game dev studio located right in Japan, and has managed to stay out of the clutches of corporate ownership.
