Hideo Kojima joined a Zoom call with Sony. Minutes later, Physint had lost its funding

Hideo Kojima has finally opened up about the extraordinary PlayStation split that sent Physint to Xbox, and it sounds like even he still doesn’t fully understand why it happened. Kojima told The Washington Post that Sony informed Kojima Productions during a Zoom call in mid-June that it would stop funding the action-espionage game. Kojima says Sony did not give him a reason for the decision.

For the legendary developer, the decision was quite serious. Kojima Productions employs nearly 200 people, and as an independent studio, its business depends on individual publishing agreements. “If they can’t fund us, our studio could collapse,” Kojima said.

Kojima didn’t think Physint was even on the chopping block

Kojima conceived the project as his return to the action-espionage genre after years of fans asking for another Metal Gear-style game. He discussed the idea with former PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan, who Kojima recalls responding enthusiastically, before the project was formally announced with PlayStation Studios head Hermen Hulst in January 2024.

Kojima described Physint as potentially the biggest-selling game he could make and said he never expected it to be canceled. After Sony’s call, he nevertheless returned to revising the game’s concept and began searching for another publisher. The situation also brought back some unpleasant memories. Kojima compared the uncertainty to his departure from Konami and worried about repeating what happened with Silent Hills, where actors and collaborators had already committed before that project was killed.

Xbox was already waiting in the wings

Xbox already publishes Kojima Productions’ upcoming horror game OD, and Kojima says Microsoft quickly showed interest when he approached it about Physint. The partnership became public on September 9, with Xbox taking over publishing duties. Development never completely stopped. Kojima says the plot, overall concept, and storyboards are written; 3D modeling and actor scanning are underway; and Bill Skarsgård has joined the cast. The studio is still experimenting with engines.

A separate Bloomberg report suggested Sony had concerns about budget, deadlines, profitability, and platform exclusivity. Kojima Productions has explicitly challenged that reporting, saying those claims did not come from official or on-the-record sources. Sony itself has not publicly explained why it walked away. Despite all of this, Kojima insists the relationship isn’t hostile. He still considers Sony a partner. Physint simply has a different publisher now — and, for Kojima Productions, apparently a much-needed second life.