Sony Cancels Kojima's Physint, Xbox Steps In as Publisher

Sony cancelled Hideo Kojima's stealth action game Physint in June and Xbox has taken over as its publisher, a reversal that landed on September 10 and set off a wave of criticism aimed at PlayStation. Kotaku reported the sequence: Sony helped Kojima reveal Physint in January 2024, decided to cancel the project in June, and then Xbox moved in to publish it.

The game was positioned as Kojima's return to the stealth action genre he defined with Metal Gear Solid. Kotaku framed the cancellation as Sony walking away from "the creator of Metal Gear Solid, one of the few battle-hardened visionaries still left in the field trying to push the blockbuster game design envelope." The outlet also noted that Kojima Productions' Death Stranding 2 was part of the same publishing relationship, and asked how many of the 3,200 layoffs at Sony factored into the decision to fund Kojima's next game.

Kotaku described the outcome as "the latest PR stumble by Sony at a time when the online vibes were already pretty terrible for the PS5 maker," and said no party emerges cleanly. It raised the question of how much Kojima's own creative ambition, described as putting his "genre-defining" goals above all else, contributed to a long-time publishing partner getting cold feet. It also noted that Xbox is absorbing Physint while belief in the platform and Microsoft's commitment to it "has never faced more scrutiny."

Reaction online centered on the apparent contradiction of Sony funding a Metal Gear spiritual successor and then dropping it. One widely shared post read: "PlayStation got the metal gear guy so he could make them a spiritual successor to metal gear, and then got rid of him when he started making a spiritual successor to metal gear. Masterful gambit." Another post said, "Hideo Kojima wants to come back to the stealth action genre. The guy who created METAL GEAR SOLID wants to return to the genre Sony responds by cancelling the game and letting their dying competitor Kirk them by picking it up for distribution."

Other posts mocked the broader pattern of platform-holder decisions. One read, "Sony and Microsoft have both been passing eachother a revolver back and forth to see who can destroy more public good will faster each year." Another compared the news to Valve's recent leak of upcoming games, writing that Sony responded by ending its Kojima partnership and handing the project to its main competitor. A separate post joked that "PlayStation cancelling anything that starts with Phys apparently."

Kotaku's report is the only source available here, and it is built largely on social media reaction plus the outlet's own framing rather than statements from Sony, Xbox, or Kojima Productions. No comment from any of the three companies is included, and no reason for the June cancellation is given beyond Kotaku's speculation about Kojima's creative demands and Sony's cost pressures.

What remains unknown is the state of Physint itself: whether development continues at Kojima Productions under Xbox, what the terms of the publishing deal are, and whether the game retains its original scope. Also unconfirmed is the exact timing of Xbox's involvement relative to the June cancellation, and whether Sony's 3,200 layoffs are connected to the decision at all. None of the parties has publicly explained the split.