Of the many people across the gaming industry who have been caught off guard with Sony’s decision to step away from publishing Kojima Productions’ espionage title Physint is former PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida. Taking to social media, Yoshida simply posted text-based emoticons depicting a surprised face along with noting that, “Wow, that surprised me…”
While he didn’t reveal more details about this surprise, considering Yoshida’s long tenure at PlayStation, it is likely that he expected the partnership between the company and Kojima Productions to be quite strong. Studio head Hideo Kojima himself has worked with the company as far back as 1998 with the launch of Metal Gear Solid on the original PlayStation, and even the PS2 had 2001’s Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty as one of its marquee releases.
Sony announced that it was stepping away from publishing Physint through a social media post where it called the move a “difficult decision”. The company noted that “We continue to have a great admiration for Hideo Kojima’s vision for the game.” Kojima later confirmed this through his own social media post, revealing that Kojima Productions got notified of this in mid-June.
Shortly after the announcement, Kojima Productions announced that it was teaming up with Xbox for the development and publishing of Physint. “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.” Xbox CEO Asha Sharma celebrated this collaboration.
“We’re honored that Kojima-san has chosen Xbox to work with Kojima Productions on PHYSINT. His ambition to challenge conventions reflects the kind of creativity we want to support at Xbox,” she wrote.
It is worth noting that Kojima Productions already had a strong working relationship with Xbox since the studio is working alongside the console-maker on the horror title OD. Kojima acknowledged this, noting that this new collaboration will push their relationship even further.
“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.”
In the meantime, not too many other details about Physint have been revealed so far. Kojima said back in January that 2026 for his studio will largely be defined by its work on the espionage title and OD. He called this the team’s “second phase”, with a “third phase” coming later that will revolve around building on top of the foundations laid down during the second phase.
“Unlike last year, like I was traveling all over the world, this year will be about staying grounded and laying solid foundations. We will continue development on the horror game ‘OD’ and move forward with preparations for the espionage action title ‘Physint.’ This includes casting actors, scanning, and performance capture shoots,” he explained.
Rumors have also indicated that Physint’s main antagonist will be played by a villain that is similar to Mads Mikkelsen’s role in the TV series Hannibal, “but with flair”.
