A few days ago, Microsoft shocked the gaming world by revealing that it has acquired Xbox exclusivity for Hideo Kojima’s ‘Physint’, an upcoming stealth-action game that’s billed as a successor to the legendary Metal Gear Solid franchise.
It was originally a PlayStation-exclusive, but Hideo Kojima cut ties with Sony after the company tried to cancel Physint without warning, as stated on his X account.
Fast forward to today, and Sony has unveiled an explanation (via Bloomberg) as to why the company decided to axe Kojima Productions’ latest IP.
According to Sony, and I quote, “[Physint] missed deadlines and was on track to be well over budget despite being years away from release”.
Additionally, Sony stated, “Kojima’s previous two games, Death Stranding and its sequel, didn’t meet PlayStation’s revenue expectations,” and “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.”
Jason Schreier reports on why PlayStation ended its partnership with Hideo Kojima for Physint:• PHYSINT had missed deadlines and was on track to be well over budget despite being years away from release• Death Stranding 1 & 2 didn’t hit PlayStation revenue targets•… pic.twitter.com/4izrC01XHhSeptember 11, 2026
Window’s Central’s take
In short, it seems Sony was running out of patience with Hideo Kojima and wanted to cancel it for taking too long to make, going over budget, and to prevent it from being ported to other systems that aren’t PlayStation.
While I’m personally ambivalent about this (my favorite Kojima game will always be Metal Gear Rising), it can’t be denied that Xbox is reaping the benefits of this situation.
Microsoft now has Kojima Productions’ full support for publishing Physint on Xbox and PC, and with them also working together on the upcoming horror game OD, this could be the start of a long, profitable friendship between the two studios.
With how quickly Kojima Productions’ relationship with Sony has deteriorated over this situation, I wouldn’t be surprised if we see an Xbox port of Death Stranding 2 with Xbox Play Anywhere in the future, as the original Death Stranding did.
But whether or not Physint and OD will turn out to be good games and make enough money to warrant Microsoft’s investment, we will have to wait and see to find out.
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