Xbox picks up Hideo Kojima's Physint after PlayStation quietly dropped it
Hideo Kojima's next game, Physint, is moving from PlayStation to Xbox after Sony cancelled its publishing deal in June 2026 with no public explanation. Xbox announced the new partnership on September 9, confirming it will publish and fund the project. The switch means Kojima is now making two games for Microsoft — Physint and the cloud-assisted horror title OD.
The backstory
Physint was announced in January 2024 at a PlayStation State of Play, with PlayStation Studios head Hermen Hulst on stage. Kojima described it as a spiritual successor to Metal Gear — a stealth-action game designed to blur the line between games and cinema. The cast includes Charlee Fraser, Ma Dong-Seok, and Minami Hamabe.
Sony notified Kojima in mid-June that it was walking away. The company confirmed over 30 years of collaboration with Kojima Productions but gave no reason for cutting Physint specifically. Kojima spent roughly three months finding a replacement publisher before landing at Xbox.
An update from PlayStation Studios: After careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision to step away from collaborating with KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS on its project PHYSINT. We continue to have great admiration for Hideo Kojima's vision for the game.
— PlayStation (@PlayStation) September 10, 2026
Our relationship…
The Xbox angle
New Xbox CEO Asha Sharma, in the role since 2026, called the deal "a significant moment" for the company, per Xbox Wire. The partnership goes further than publishing rights — it will extend into film and television, a detail Sharma emphasized in her statement.
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. PHYSINT is an important project both to me personally and to KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS. Determined to keep… pic.twitter.com/rQqhxAnb7N
— HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) September 10, 2026
That transmedia ambition fits a pattern. Kojima has long framed both Physint and OD as projects that sit somewhere between gaming and other screen formats. Xbox, under Sharma, appears to be betting on that crossover appeal rather than platform exclusivity — no exclusivity terms were announced with the deal.
PHYSINT and OD! Proud to build both with @HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN in Japan. A big moment for XBOX. pic.twitter.com/X3JG0lIB9F
— ASHA (@asha_shar) September 10, 2026
What to expect
Don't hold your breath for a release date. Kojima told an interviewer in May 2025 that Physint was still roughly five to six years from completion. Given that timeline, the game will almost certainly land on next-generation hardware, notes Variety. No gameplay footage has been shown publicly since the 2025 cast reveal.
Sony's decision to drop a decades-long creative partner without explanation is the more puzzling part of this story. Whatever the internal reasoning — budget pressure, portfolio restructuring, new leadership priorities — Xbox moved quickly enough to keep the project alive.
