Legendary developer Hideo Kojima’s successor to his Konami franchise, Metal Gear Solid, known as Physint, will now be published by Xbox, not Sony, Microsoft has confirmed. Originally announced in 2024 during a Sony State of Play, the project was announced as a collaboration between Kojima Productions and PlayStation, though nothing from the title was shown at the time. Xbox is also publishing Kojima Productions’ OD, itself a spiritual successor to the unfulfilled PT, both of which franchises lost to Kojima when he and Konami had their very public falling out in 2015.
According to Kojima himself, Sony made the horribly bad decision to cancel Physint earlier this year, in June, leading to the developer needing to find another publisher for the game. He said via social media:
As confirmed earlier through our official channels, in mid-June of this year, we unexpectedly received notice from PlayStation Studios that they would cancel the Physint project. Physint is an important project both to me personally and to Kojima Productions. Determined to keep the project alive, we have spent the last three months searching tirelessly for a new partner. In the course of seeking advice and pursuing negotiations with people across many fields, we found in Xbox a partner with whom we share a common vision for the future, and we have decided to team up with them once again. Please rest assured that development of Physint, our genre-defining action-espionage title, is ongoing and will continue moving forward.
Xbox CEO Asha Sharma, who took over earlier this year for Phil Spencer, scored a win in all this by making Kojima a priority in the current reset and rebuilding of the Xbox brand. This process has seen several studios spin off from Xbox, now operating independently after the company had sought to sell them, along with a large number of lost jobs. OD will release before Physint, though we do not have a release date for that project as of yet.
Sharma published in a statement:
Creators have choices about where and how they bring their ideas to life. 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.
PlayStation also issued a statement shortly after the news:
After careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision to step away from collaborating with Kojima Productions on its project Physint. We continue to have great admiration for Hideo Kojima’s vision for the game. Our relationship remains strong after three decades of industry-leading, genre-defining creative cooperation, and we look forward to continued close collaboration with Hideo Kojima and his award-winning independent studio in the future.
We don’t currently know much about Physint, though Kojima has stated that “Of course, it is an interactive game, but it is also a movie at the same time.” Last year, when asked, Kojima did say there might be some time before we see the release of the game, claiming that it is possibly 5-6 years from now. During an event in September of 2025 for the 10th anniversary of Kojima Productions, Kojima confirmed that development on the game is only just starting and that he is working on concepts, making characters, and thinking of casting. Fans of Kojima have begun to speculate that The Batman Star Robert Pattinson might be considered to play the lead, which could be a good choice.
Kojima described the game, saying:
It is a completely new ‘Action Espionage’ for the next generation. It will be created using cutting-edge technology and the best talents from around the world, both from film and video games. Of course, this is an interactive ‘game,’ but the look, story, theme, cast, acting, fashion, sound, etc… are all at the next level of ‘Digital Entertainment’ that could be called a ‘movie.’
Kojima also said that the tech running Physint, which may or may not be the game’s final name, will be far more advanced than what is running Death Stranding or OD. Several casting choices for the game were also announced, including Charlee Fraiser, who played Mary Jabassa in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, Don Lee, who played Gilgamesh in Eternals, and Minami Hamabe, who portrayed Noriko ÅŒish in Godzilla Minus One.
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