Earlier this week, PlayStation announced it was no longer going to publish Hideo Kojima’s Physint. At the time, it wasn’t clear why Sony was ditching Kojima, but a new report from Bloomberg explains that the project’s budget was growing too large, the team was missing deadlines, and that these and other factors led to PlayStation backing out, which let Xbox swoop in to fund and publish the upcoming title.
On September 11, Bloomberg reported that, according to people familiar with the project, one major reason Sony cut ties with Physint was due to the commercial performance of Death Stranding and its sequel. These games reportedly didn’t meet PlayStation’s revenue expectations. Another issue is that Physint has reportedly missed deadlines and was on course to be over budget. The game is reportedly still years away from completion, too, making Physint a very expensive investment for Sony. Another factor: PlayStation wasn’t excited to invest hundreds of millions of dollars into another game that, like Death Stranding, wouldn’t remain a PlayStation exclusive.
For many, the news was surprising. Kojima and PlayStation have had a long relationship, with the Metal Gear Solid franchise calling the console its main home for decades. And when Kojima and MGS publisher Konami split ways in a messy, public dispute, it was PlayStation that swooped in 2015 to provide the famous game designer with funding for his next game, which would end up being Death Stranding. But Bloomberg reports that many of the PlayStation executives who had developed a close relationship with Kojima over the years are no longer at the company. Seemingly, those who remain don’t see investing in Kojima’s next big game as a valuable move.
Meanwhile, the outlet reports that Xbox and its new CEO Asha Sharma saw Physint as a good investment for a few reasons.
One of the main factors is the PC. Sony is reportedly done releasing PC ports of its big exclusive games. So Sony wouldn’t make any money from the eventual release of Physint on PC via a different publisher. But Xbox releases all of its games on PC and reportedly is planning to do the same with Physint. The Xbox deal with Kojima also includes film and TV rights for both Physint and Kojima’s other project, the horror game OD. That title was already being published by Xbox as part of an earlier deal.
“Betting on Kojima-san is an easy call,” an Xbox spokesperson told Bloomberg. “We believe in his team’s ability to build AAA games with groundbreaking, new IP and we believe in OD, Physint, and our growing partnership.”
