Hideo Kojima Says He Is Not Fighting Sony Over PHYSINT but Wanted Earlier Warning

Hideo Kojima says there is no dispute between Kojima Productions and Sony following PlayStation's decision to withdraw from PHYSINT, but he wishes the company had warned him earlier. Sony informed Kojima in June that it would stop funding the action espionage project, ending a partnership that had originally positioned PHYSINT as one of PlayStation's major future collaborations with the creator of Metal Gear.

Speaking in a new IGN interview, Kojima said Sony requested an unexpected Zoom meeting in June. He joined alongside Kojima Productions president Shinji Hirano and head of talent development Aki Saito, expecting a normal discussion before being told that PlayStation would no longer fund PHYSINT. Kojima said the decision caught him completely off guard because he believed the project was secure.

"We're not in a dispute. I would've wanted to hear it a little earlier."
— Quote by: Hideo Kojima

Kojima said Sony has not contacted him since the June meeting and that he still has no official explanation for why the partnership ended. His frustration appears to be centered primarily on the timing. Kojima has worked closely with Sony for around 30 years and said that history made the sudden final notice especially difficult to process. He also stressed that he holds no hostility toward the company and continues to describe himself as a longtime Sony fan.

The immediate concern was not only PHYSINT itself but Kojima Productions and its staff. Kojima explained that the independent studio has around 200 employees and had expanded partly to support development of the game. When Sony withdrew, his attention quickly shifted toward protecting the team and ensuring that the project could continue rather than abandoning years of planning.

That search eventually led to Xbox, which was already working with Kojima Productions on OD. Previously when PHYSINT moved from PlayStation to Xbox, Microsoft became the new publishing partner after Kojima Productions spent approximately 3 months looking for a way to keep the project alive. Kojima Productions has since formally confirmed that development continues with Xbox.

The transition has moved quickly. Bill Skarsgård was recently confirmed as the lead actor in PHYSINT, joining Charlee Fraser, Don Lee and Minami Hamabe. Kojima says casting and production work are progressing, while Xbox has committed additional technological support to the project.

One technical question is still unresolved. Kojima Productions used Guerrilla Games' Decima Engine for Death Stranding and Death Stranding 2, but Kojima says the studio has not yet decided which engine PHYSINT will use under Xbox. He is still experimenting, leaving open the possibility that development could continue with Decima or move toward another technology such as Unreal Engine.

Recent reporting had suggested that Sony's decision involved growing development costs, production delays, the commercial performance of the Death Stranding games and disagreements around exclusivity. We previously examined those claims in our report on why PlayStation reportedly dropped PHYSINT. However, Sony has not publicly confirmed those specific reasons, and Kojima says the company never provided him with an explanation.

Kojima Productions has also responded directly to speculation surrounding the split. The studio said reporting about its relationship with PlayStation, Death Stranding's commercial performance and PHYSINT's production planning was based on unnamed sources rather than official comments. It also stated that Kojima Productions remains profitable, PHYSINT is moving forward with Xbox and its relationship with PlayStation remains strong.

The final platform lineup for PHYSINT also remains undecided publicly. Kojima said questions regarding a potential PlayStation version are now ultimately for Xbox to answer, while noting Microsoft's broader approach of bringing games to multiple platforms. No PlayStation version has been confirmed, and Xbox has not announced the final release strategy.

The most significant part of Kojima's interview is not that he is angry with Sony. By his own account, he is not. The bigger issue is how suddenly a major independent studio can lose financial backing for a project it believed was secure.

PHYSINT had already influenced hiring and long term production planning at Kojima Productions, so Sony's decision created consequences extending far beyond changing the logo on the publishing agreement. Xbox stepping in prevented the project from being abandoned, but the episode highlights how vulnerable even highly recognized independent studios can become when a major publisher changes direction.

There is also still a large gap between what has been reported about Sony's reasons and what either company has officially confirmed. Until Sony explains its decision, budget, exclusivity and sales concerns should remain reported explanations rather than established facts.

For Kojima, the relationship appears damaged more by the way the decision was delivered than by the decision itself.

Do you think Sony should have given Kojima Productions more warning before ending its PHYSINT partnership, even if PlayStation had already decided the project no longer fit its strategy?