Hideo Kojima Declares Physint His Most Anticipated Title Yet, Promising Exciting Espionage Gameplay

The first title Hideo Kojima launched after his dramatic departure from Konami was an open-world delivery game that leans more towards a walking simulator than a classic action-adventure experience. Both Death Stranding games are impressive, but they don’t quite fulfill the longing some fans have for a spiritual successor to Metal Gear Solid. Now, Kojima is gearing up to present his upcoming espionage game, Physint, as just that, hinting that it will cater more to mainstream tastes compared to some of his previous projects.

“This is the biggest selling title I could possibly create,” Kojima remarked, reflecting on Sony’s unexpected decision to cancel the project, which will now be published by Xbox. “I didn’t think Physint would be on the list of being canceled.”

In a separate chat, he shared insights into Physint’s inception. Following a health scare during the pandemic, Kojima realized he might have limited time to create new games. He felt compelled to develop a new type of Metal Gear Solid IP:

“I was browsing online and received countless messages from fans saying, ‘Please make another Metal Gear!’ Initially, I wasn’t interested because Metal Gear is part of the past. I want to explore new ideas. But seeing so many requests made me think, maybe I only have 10 years left. Of course, I can’t create Metal Gear—that belongs to Konami. But I thought, ‘Okay, maybe I should craft a new action espionage game.’ That’s how the concept began to take shape.”

While details about the new concept are still under wraps, and foundational aspects like the game engine remain unconfirmed, Kojima hinted at experimenting with innovative enemy AI that could influence the final design of Physint. “But the game system for the new technology, like enemy AI and stuff, I’m still experimenting with all of this,” he explained. “I have to adjust the story based on how these game experiments turn out.”

The Physint team is currently small as Kojima Productions prioritizes the release of OD, a horror collaboration with filmmaker Jordan Peele. Despite the unexpected fallout from the Sony publishing deal, Kojima is trying to maintain a positive outlook. He suggests that Physint will be more overtly “fun” compared to the Death Stranding titles.

“I have to say this very carefully: anything espionage is going to be fun, period, no matter what game it is,” he stated. “Death Stranding is a delivery game. People were like, ‘What? Delivery? What kind of game is that?’ While I was working on DS2, and after OD was greenlit, I needed to consider what to tackle next after DS2.”

He added, “As I mentioned before, to keep the studio thriving, I have to plan ahead and pitch for the next title, which also means I can’t direct a live-action movie just yet. OD was intended to be an edgy game, so for the next one, I was thinking of going even more extreme.”