Following rumors that PHYSINT had a budget of $400 million, more credibleng Hideo Kojima’s next project
Following the startling news that Sony had dropped its partnership with Hideo Kojima on the new MGS-inspired IP PHYSINT, and the equally unexpected discovery that the game had been saved by Sony’s rival platform, Xbox, it was reported that the project’s budget was among Sony’s chief concerns leading to this choice.
In the latest episode of The Game Business show, Chris Dring claimed that the budget was around $400 million. However, twoier replied in the ResetEra thread, having heard from an Xbox contact that they are investing “significantly less than that”:
I am hesitant to get into exact numbers without seeing documentation or corroborating them with multiple firsthand sources, as always. And there are a lot of different numbers here. There’s the number PHYSINT was originally signed for at PlayStation, the number it was approaching, the number that came up during negotiations, the number it would have been with certain A-list actors attached, the number that Xbox agreed to, and the number it will actually cost by the time it comes out. All that said, someone at Xbox with firsthand knowledge of the deal told me that they signed PHYSINT for significantly less than this.
Windows Central’s Jez Corden has corroborated Schreier’s statement, suggesting that $400 million is what Sony was supposed to pay for PHYSINT (before getting cold feet), and Xbox will be investing a lot less:
I was told similarly by first-hand sources with direct knowledge of the contracts that the figure for PHYSINT is far lower than what is being reported here. It has been suggested to me that the “$400 million” figure is potentially what Sony and PlayStation might’ve been on the hook for until they canceled the deal. Xbox and Kojima are building towards their Xbox projects on a “fraction” of this reported figure. I’m told Xbox negotiated a deal with Kojima Productions that includes both movie and TV licenses for PHYSINT, and it also included enhanced terms for OD, Kojima’s anticipated atmospheric horror game for Xbox.
Kojima’s games have always been expensive to make, and even more so since he’s decided to regularly cast famous actors. PHYSINT is no exception, with Bill Skarsgårdchosen to play the lead character and Charlee Fraser, Ma Dong-seok, and Minami Hamabe set to appear in supporting roles.
Still, $400 million is a lot of money, and it makes Sony’s unpopular decision a little more understandable. One has to wonder what kind of cuts will be made now that Kojima has had to settle for a much lower budget than anticipated. It may be a while before we learn more specifics, though, given that the legendary game designer is focusing on OD first.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief.
In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech’s gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews.
Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications.
His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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