You know that Simpsons episode where Sideshow Bob keeps stepping on rakes…
In a double whammy announcement, PlayStation took to its socials to reveal that it has “made the difficult decision to step away from collaborating with Kojima Productions on its project Physint.”
Not only is this baffling, considering the public outcry for a game like this from Kojima, but it’s a deeply embarrassing move for PlayStation, as the partnership was announced with a great deal of pomp and circumstance during a State of Play back in 2024. The announcement came as a segment featuring Kojima and PlayStation Studios head Hermen Hulst, which is wonderfully ironic in retrospect.
If this announcement were siloed, it would be an outright disaster for those looking forward to the prospect of a Metal Gear-like experience from Kojima Productions, but the wild news doesn’t stop there.
Kojima Productions quickly announced on its social channels that it had found a new partner to continue work on Physint. In the ultimate go-kick-rocks move, Kojima Productions has now partnered with Xbox on Physint, expanding the partnership that already included the studio’s horror title, OD.
“XBOX understands and shares our bold creative vision, and this expands our relationship with XBOX beyond OD,” the official statement reads.
Kojima later provided more context on the situation, taking to his socials to say that in mid-June the studio “unexpectedly received notice from PlayStation Studios that they would cancel the PHYSINT project.” He goes on to say that, after three months of searching for a partner, the studio put pen to paper with Xbox.
For those unaware, Physint is the in-development return to the action-espionage genre for Hideo Kojima and his team, a return that many have been waiting for since the creative’s widely talked-about separation from Konami.
Kojima Productions working on a spiritual successor to Metal Gear Solid feels like a slam dunk, so canning it and calling the partnership a day is a crazy move for a company that hasn’t exactly been a beacon of positive headlines lately.
While I struggle to understand how Physint suffers while PlayStation was more than willing to put the house behind a live-service push that ultimately failed, one analyst thinks they have the answer to this rug pull.
Dr Serkan Toto, CEO of Japan game industry consultancy Kantan Games Inc., took to Twitter with a take that makes some sense, but not enough for this onlooker. Toto hypothesises that sales figures would’ve been enough to make the company gun shy, stating that “the steep drop-off from DS1 to DS2 spooked Sony enough to cut him off.” Even still, this seems incredibly shortsighted to me, but what would I know.
We want to hear from you. Do you think Physint would’ve been a sure thing for PlayStation? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.
