Hideo Kojima’s upcoming action-espionage title PHYSINT has found a new home at Xbox after PlayStation Studios made the decision to cancel the project earlier this year. PlayStation first confirmed that it was stepping away from its collaboration with Kojima Productions, describing it as a difficult decision while making it clear that its wider relationship with Hideo Kojima had not ended.
“After careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision to step away from collaborating with Kojima Productions on its project PHYSINT,” PlayStation Studios said on X. “We continue to have great admiration for Hideo Kojima’s vision for the game.”
The company added that its relationship with Kojima remains strong following “three decades of industry-leading, genre-defining creative cooperation,” and said it looks forward to continuing its close collaboration with Kojima and his independent studio in the future.
Kojima subsequently provided considerably more detail about what had happened behind the scenes. According to the developer, Kojima Productions was unexpectedly informed in mid-June that PlayStation Studios would cancel PHYSINT.
“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,” Kojima said on X.
For Kojima Productions, however, abandoning PHYSINT apparently wasn’t an option.
“PHYSINT is an important project both to me personally and to Kojima Productions,” Kojima continued. “Determined to keep the project alive, we have spent the last three months searching tirelessly for a new partner.”
That search eventually brought Kojima Productions to Xbox, with whom the studio is already developing OD.
“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,” Kojima said.
Xbox has now formally confirmed that it will publish PHYSINT as part of an expanded relationship between the two companies.
“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,” Xbox CEO Asha Sharma said.
Kojima also confirmed that the agreement takes his studio’s relationship with Xbox considerably further than its existing work on OD. “This expands our relationship with Xbox beyond OD,” Kojima said. “As we move forward with the development of PHYSINT, we remain committed to redefining the action-espionage genre for players around the world.”
The partnership isn’t limited to those two games either. Xbox says it will also collaborate with Kojima Productions across film and television, expanding the relationship beyond traditional game development and publishing.
What’s particularly striking here is that this wasn’t simply a case of PHYSINT moving from one publisher to another. Kojima’s own statement says PlayStation intended to cancel the project, after which Kojima Productions actively spent three months looking for a way to keep it alive. Xbox’s involvement has therefore given PHYSINT another path forward rather than merely changing the logo attached to an otherwise unaffected game.
Kojima, meanwhile, has reassured fans that PHYSINT remains in active development.
“Please rest assured that development of PHYSINT, our genre-defining action-espionage title, is ongoing and will continue moving forward.”
