Hideo Kojima game now under Xbox’s wing
PlayStation has confirmed its decision to “step away” from the development of Physint, the new Metal Gear Solid-esque project from Kojima Productions that was announced a few years ago.
In a statement posted to social media, Sony explained: “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.”
The project is still in development, though, under a new publisher: Xbox.
Hideo Kojima took to social media to explain that rather than just stepping away from Physint, Sony had cancelled the project entirely in mid-June. In the three months since then, the developer has been searching for a new partner and found it in Xbox Game Studios.
“In the course of seeking advice and pursuing negotiations with people across many fields, we found in XBOX a partner with whom we share a common vision for the future, and we have decided to team up with them once again,” explained Kojima. “Please rest assured that development of PHYSINT, our genre-defining action-espionage title, is ongoing and will continue moving forward.”
The reason why Sony decided to step away from Physint and cancel development hasn’t been shared.
Instead, the company simply added: “Our relationship remains strong after three decades of industry-leading, genre-defining creative cooperation, and we look forward to continued close collaboration with Hideo Kojima and his award-winning independent studio in the future.”
Kojima Productions is also collaborating with Xbox Game Studios on OD, a more experimental horror game that’s been knocking about for a few years now.
While Sony took a softer approach by saying it chose to “step away” from Physint, Kojima shared the actual reality of the situation: “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.” This led to the team searching for a new publishing partner.
Following the switch, the final product will likely look dramatically different than if it had reached the finish line with Sony. The original reveal suggested Physint would make use of Sony Pictures’ film production buildings, and that PlayStation would provide its full backing.
We’ve never seen the game in action, but Charlee Fraser (Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga), Don Lee (Train to Busan) and Minami Hamabe (Godzilla Minus One) were confirmed as cast members, and considerable work was being put into face models via 3Lateral technology.
Now, none of this work will come to fruition under PlayStation. Whether the game even launches on PlayStation (most likely PS6) is theoretically up in the air now, following Xbox’s recent attempt to reclaim exclusive games.
The official Kojima Productions account had a follow-up post sharing its excitement to work with Xbox beyond just OD: “XBOX understands and shares our bold creative vision, and this expands our relationship with XBOX beyond OD. As we move forward with the development of PHYSINT, we remain committed to redefining the action-espionage genre for players around the world.”
With fan sentiment surrounding PlayStation in the mud, especially after a live service push and the decisions to cancel many of those projects, its decision-making is starting to impact the single player titles the brand is best known for.
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