PlayStation’s Surprising Cancellation of Kojima’s Latest Game Finally Explained

Earlier this week, Hideo Kojima announced that Kojima Productions’ upcoming title, Physint, has been dropped by PlayStation and will now be developed in partnership with Xbox. In a post on X, he clarified that PlayStation canceled Physint back in June, prompting the studio to seek a new collaborator. “Please rest assured that development of PHYSINT, our genre-defining action-espionage title, is ongoing and will continue moving forward,” he stated.

A report surfaced on Friday detailing the reasons behind PlayStation’s cancellation of Physint, which was first revealed during a State of Play in 2024 as an “action-espionage game” and has been described as a spiritual successor to Metal Gear. The decision stemmed from several factors, primarily budget issues and disappointing sales of Death Stranding.

Sources indicated that Physint was already exceeding its budget, despite being years away from release, and had missed key deadlines. Additionally, the fact that Physint would not remain a PlayStation exclusive played a role, as the platform was “reluctant to invest hundreds of millions of dollars” in a game that would eventually be available on other systems, similar to Kojima Productions’ Death Stranding titles.

Kojima Productions had previously teamed up with 505 Games to release the first Death Stranding on Windows PC, as well as on Xbox Series X and mobile platforms. With Sony shifting away from publishing single-player games on PC, they would miss out on revenue if Kojima Productions chose to self-publish Physint or partner with another publisher.

Both Death Stranding and its sequel, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, fell short of PlayStation’s commercial expectations. On the Beach has sold around 2.5 million copies, with 1.8 million on PlayStation 5 and the remainder on Steam. In contrast, the first game sold 5 million copies in a similar timeframe and “reached” 19 million players over five years, partly due to its availability on Xbox Game Pass and giveaways on the Epic Games Store. Alinea Analytics estimates the combined revenue from the Death Stranding games at approximately $413 million against a total budget of $250-300 million.

Sony’s relationship with Kojima dates back to the release of Metal Gear Solid on PlayStation in 1998. The company quickly partnered with Kojima Productions after his split from Konami. However, as noted, “many of the PlayStation executives who had close relationships with Kojima have left the company in recent years.”

Kojima is clearly forging new connections at Xbox, having already collaborated with them on the upcoming horror title, OD. “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,” said new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma.

Both Bloomberg and Alinea Analytics pointed to Sony’s recent struggles with live-service games, notably the infamous Concord, as influencing their decision-making. These setbacks have prompted PlayStation to implement stricter production milestones, according to insiders.

Given Sony’s tightening budget, it’s not surprising they would cancel an expensive project after previous titles failed to meet sales expectations. However, this situation doesn’t reflect well on Sony, especially as they face criticism over their decision to stop producing physical discs by 2028.

At least Physint has secured a new home with Xbox. Yet, with Xbox currently undergoing layoffs that will affect thousands, one has to question how they can afford a Kojima game that is likely to come with a hefty price tag.

“Diarrhea from a butt,” lamented one dismayed fan.