Hideo Kojima has given his account of how Sony Interactive Entertainment told Kojima Productions it would stop funding Physint. In interviews with IGN and The Washington Post, reported by GameSpot and Video Games Chronicle, Kojima said the news was delivered on a Zoom call in June.
Physint had been set to be published by PlayStation Studios. Earlier this month, Kojima Productions moved the game to Xbox after saying PlayStation had moved to cancel it, while Sony said at the time that it had decided to step away from working with the studio on the project, VGC reported.
Kojima told IGN the call came shortly after he returned from trips to New York and Los Angeles, and that he was too shocked to take in what he was hearing at first. He did not say who at Sony was on the call or why the company stopped funding the game. Studio president Shinji Hirano told The Washington Post that he "went totally blank" when he heard the news.
We're an independent studio. That means if they can't fund us, our studio could collapse.
Kojima said his first concern was the studio's staff of close to 200. According to GameSpot, only Kojima, Hirano and head of talent development Aki Saito knew about the decision at first, and Kojima spent several months looking for a new partner before Xbox signed on. He told The Washington Post he did not want to repeat what happened with Silent Hills, the Konami project cancelled after the P.T. demo, by telling actors and collaborators that another game had been called off.
Kojima also said Physint took shape after he fell ill in 2020, when he and Jim Ryan, then head of Sony Interactive Entertainment, agreed to make another stealth game. Ryan left Sony in early 2024. Kojima said he could not understand the decision, since he regarded Physint as a project the two sides had agreed to build together.
Studio disputes Bloomberg report
The interviews follow a Bloomberg report which said, citing unnamed people familiar with the project, that Physint had missed deadlines and was on course to run well over budget, and which tied Sony's decision to the Death Stranding games falling short of its revenue expectations. Kojima Productions responded on X that none of the claims came from an official or on-the-record source and asked players to treat them with skepticism. The studio added that it is healthy and profitable, that Physint development is continuing with Xbox, and that its relationship with PlayStation remains strong.
Kojima told both outlets he bears Sony no grudge. He said to IGN that he has "no bad feelings" toward the company, and told The Washington Post the two sides are not in a dispute, adding that he still uses Sony cameras and a Walkman. Physint closed Xbox's Tokyo Game Show broadcast last week, where Kojima announced Bill Skarsgård as the game's lead.
