It's fair to say we were all a bit surprised by the news that Xbox would be taking over from Sony to publish Hideo Kojima's PHYSINT, dubbed as a spiritual successor to the Metal Gear Solid series.
Sony's split from Kojima Productions couldn't have come at a worse time for PlayStation, as many fans were still reeling from Sony's recently announced plans to walk away from physical media in the future.
Although the decision wasn't made publicly clear in either PlayStation or Kojima's statements, they did mention that the relationship between them is still one of mutual respect, even though Sony planned to cancel PHYSINT. However, Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier made some calls and is claiming the real reason Sony pulled out was due to "concerns over budget, potential profitability and exclusivity"
"Sony Group Corp.’s PlayStation pulled out of an upcoming game by the well-known designer Hideo Kojima because of concerns over budget, potential profitability and exclusivity, according to people familiar with the project.
One major factor behind the decision was the commercial performance of Kojima’s previous two games, Death Stranding and its sequel, which didn’t meet PlayStation’s revenue expectations, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing information that’s not public."
Schreier continues by stating that "people familiar with the project" said PHYSINT has "missed deadlines and was on track to be well over budget despite being years away from release". He also mentions that Kojima's previous Death Stranding games being "timed" PlayStation exclusives made them "reluctant to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in another game that wouldn't remain permanently exclusive" on Sony hardware.
"Earlier this year, Sony decided it will no longer release single-player PlayStation games on PC, Bloomberg reported. Sony would therefore not benefit when Kojima Productions released a PC version of Physint on its own or with a different publisher, as it did for the first Death Stranding. But Xbox releases all of its games on PCs and plans to publish Physint on PC and Xbox, said the people."
Xbox, of course, are now the ones forking over the cash to Kojima, whose leadership believe PHYSINT is a "good investment opportunity for several reasons" according to Schreier's contacts.
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://www.purexbox.com/news/2026/09/sony-dropped-kojimas-physint-over-budget-profits-and-timed-exclusivity-concerns-sources-say
