In a whirlwind of events over the night, Hideo Kojima’s big new stealth-action game Physint has been completely dropped by PlayStation, and Kojima Studios has now partnered with XBOX on its development. It’s a rather remarkable and unprecedented change for one of the most celebrated creators in gaming.
Last night, the official PlayStation X account posted a lengthy message, stating, “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.
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.”
That alone is an interesting development, considering that in the game’s announcement video, head of PlayStation Studios Herman Hulst said he was personally excited about the project. While PlayStation’s post makes it sound like a mutually agreed-upon separation, shortly after, Kojima himself posted an update that painted a slightly different picture.
“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,” he says.
That certainly makes it sound like the cancellation was a complete surprise to Kojima and his studio. It’s not nearly the first game cancelled by PlayStation in the last few years, as we’ve also seen The Last of Us multiplayer game, the God of War live service game, and an unannounced game at Bend Studio all get cut in recent years.
His message then went on to announce that after three months of tirelessly searching for a new partner, they’d signed on with XBOX as a partner, sharing a “common vision for the future.” He also assures fans that the development of PHYSINT, which he calls a “genre-defining action-espionage title,” is moving forward. XBOX would later make its own announcement via a press release.
XBOX is, of course, already working with Kojima Productions on the horror game OD, starring Sophia Lillis, Hunter Schafer, and Udo Kier.
Suffice to say, the whole thing raises some major questions about what’s happening at PlayStation, especially in tandem with the company’s recent decisions to cancel games, close studios, and stop physical disc production.
