Physint, Kojima Productions’ new stealth-action IP previously announced as a PlayStation Studious game, will now be published by Xbox.
In a social post, PlayStation announced that “we have made the difficult decision to step away from collaborating with Kojima Productions on its project Physint.” The publisher also mentions that “we continue to have great admiration for Hideo Kojima’s vision for the game” and “our relationship remains strong after three decades of industry-leading, genre-defining creative cooperation.”
In a coordinated series of announcements, two minutes later Xbox revealed it is them that will be publishing the Hideo Kojima Game.
“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,” said Asha Sharma, Xbox CEO.
Physint was supposed to be the next Kojima Productions game under PlayStation Studios following up Death Stranding 2. The ex-publisher was backing Physint not just as a game, but also possible transmedia opportunities like movies.
What has now transpired is a coup for Xbox. Kojima Productions is still set to release OD as an Xbox Game Studios title, and that relationship will continue after that with Physint.
“This expands our relationship with Xbox beyond OD. As we move forward with the development of Physint, we remain committed to redefining the action-espionage genre for players around the world,” said Hideo Kojima, Game Creator and Founder of Kojima Productions.
In a seperate post nine minutes after the initial announcement, Hideo Kojima also said in his own words that PlayStation effectively cancelled the “would cancel the Physint project,” in mid-June of this year, and spent the following three weeks to find a new partner to back this title.
Fans of Hideo Kojima games will have to get an Xbox, or an Xbox account on PC, if they want to continue to support the studio for the next few years, as two of their upcoming titles will be published by Microsoft’s gaming arm.