PlayStation decided to drop its support for Kojima Productions' new game, Physint, over concerns about profitability and console exclusivity, it's claimed.
This comes from a report from Bloomberg, which cites anonymous sources familiar with the project. Here, it's also reported that Death Stranding did not meet PlayStation's profitability targets, and with Physint allegedly running over budget, the company didn't want to fund another Kojima project of this scale.
Yesterday, it was revealed that Physint was under threat of cancellation when PlayStation told Kojima it was pulling its support this June. Kojima was then able to strike a deal with Xbox, which has saved the game. Kojima is already partnering with Xbox for OD, so this wasn't too surprising to see.
What is surprising is that PlayStation is willing to give up on a Kojima game, after supporting both Death Stranding titles. However, according to the Bloomberg report, this was precisely the problem. Bloomberg's sources state that both Death Stranding games "didn't meet PlayStation's revenue expectations".
Furthermore, the sources state there are issues behind the scenes with Physint, too. We're told that Physint is missing development deadlines and is "on track to be well over budget". On top of that, even if PlayStation continued to fund its development, there was no permanent exclusivity deal in place, so it could have ended up on Xbox anyway.
Xbox earned itself a lot of goodwill by supporting Physint - something that was much needed amidst the ongoing mass layoffs. On the other hand, this has been another PR disaster for PlayStation, which is still feeling the sting after announcing that it would be phasing out physical releases for all PlayStation games. But of course, there's another wave of Xbox layoffs looming, so it is unlikely that this will last long.
Physint will mark Kojima's return to the "action espionage" game genre. For that reason, many are looking to it as a spiritual successor to the Metal Gear series, which he lost access to after his infamous departure from Konami.
Physint (working title) is an upcoming stealth video game developed by Kojima Productions and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment.
Directed by Hideo Kojima, Physint is the third project between Kojima and Sony, and the second intellectual property to come out of the partnership after 2019's Death Stranding. The game was described as an "action espionage" title, similarly to Kojima's earlier work on the Metal Gear franchise. The project involves Columbia Pictures, division of SIE sister company Sony Pictures, in unknown capacity.
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://www.thegamer.com/playstation-dropped-physint-explained-report-hideo-kojima/
