Hideo Kojima has revealed that his upcoming “action espionage” game Physint will now be published by Xbox.
In a statement posted on X, Kojima revealed that Sony unexpectedly told him that it would be cancelling the game back in June, with the developer having spent the last three months finding a new publishing partner.
“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.
“Physint is an important project both to me personally and to Kojima Productions. Determined to keep the project alive, we have spent the last three months searching tirelessly for a new partner.
“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.
“Please rest assured that development of Physint, our genre-defining action-espionage title, is ongoing and will continue moving forward.”
In a separate statement, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma said that Xbox is “honored” that Kojima has chosen to work with them to develop Physint, having already partnered with the developer on his upcoming horror game OD.
“Creators have choices about where and how they bring their ideas to life. 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,” Sharma said.
Xbox’s statement has also revealed that they will be working with Kojima Productions on film and TV projects to “bring new stories to broader audiences.”
PlayStation have also commented on today’s news in a post on X, where it describes the decision to cancel Physint as “difficult”.
“An update from PlayStation Studios: After careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision to step away from collaborating with Kojima Productions on its project Physint,” it said.
“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.”
First announced in 2024, Kojima has described Physint as a “next-generation action espionage game”.
That particular choice of words has many fans believing that Physint will be the spiritual successor to the Metal Gear games, a series that Kojima worked on for nearly 30 years at Konami.