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Hideo Kojima's action espionage game Physint has a new publisher. Xbox is taking over the project after PlayStation Studios walked away from it, and the two studios have offered noticeably different accounts of how that happened.
Two very different statements
PlayStation broke the news through its social channels, framing the split as a careful and amicable one. "After careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision to step away from collaborating with Kojima Productions on its project Physint," the company wrote, adding that it still holds "great admiration for Hideo Kojima's vision for the game" and that its relationship with the studio "remains strong after three decades" of work together, including the two Death Stranding games.
Kojima's own version is blunter. In a statement posted to his official English account and translated by IGN, he said Kojima Productions was blindsided. "In mid-June of this year, we unexpectedly received notice from PlayStation Studios that they would cancel the Physint project," the post read. Determined not to let the game die, the studio said it spent "the last three months searching tirelessly for a new partner" before landing on Xbox, describing the game as its "genre-defining action-espionage title" and confirming development is still moving forward.
Xbox now backs two Kojima projects
With this move, Xbox is now publishing two upcoming Kojima Productions games: Physint and the horror project OD (also styled OD - Knock), which was announced in late 2025. Xbox CEO Asha Sharma leaned into the recruitment angle in the company's statement. "Creators have choices about where and how they bring their ideas to life," she said, calling Kojima's ambition "the kind of creativity we want to support at Xbox." Per the full announcement, the partnership is meant to reach beyond games into film and television collaborations.
The context matters here. As Game Developer notes, Xbox is committing to Physint during a rough stretch that has included mass layoffs across its studios, with cuts expected to total 3,200 by the end of the fiscal year, plus canceled projects and severed publishing deals. IO Interactive lost Xbox funding and publishing support for "Project Fantasy" in June, and Romero Games laid off staff last year after a backer, reportedly Xbox, pulled out. Kojima's games have so far been an exception to those cuts, with OD surviving the culls and now gaining a sibling under the same roof.
Rock Paper Shotgun frames the whole episode less as a triumphant signing and more as two giants passing around projects they were unsure about backing. Sony has been burned by a run of failed live service bets, while Microsoft has been trimming first party output to focus on bigger series.
What it means for players
The most practical upshot: a PC release now looks more likely. Xbox has been far more willing to bring its single-player games to other platforms than PlayStation, so Physint switching camps improves the odds it reaches PC alongside consoles. Rock Paper Shotgun also flags that Microsoft's reported ties to the Israeli military and the BDS boycott of the company may factor into some buyers' decisions.
For anyone tracking Kojima Productions, the takeaway is straightforward: Physint is still in active development and now sits alongside OD in Xbox's lineup, though no release window has been attached to either. Death Stranding fans watching Sony's next move should note the partnership there is officially described as ongoing, just without Physint attached.