From PlayStation to Xbox: What Happened to Hideo Kojima’s Physint?

Xbox has taken over publishing Hideo Kojima’s long-awaited return to action espionage after PlayStation unexpectedly withdrew from the project. Since then, Bill Skarsgård, best known for playing Pennywise in It, has been revealed as the game’s protagonist, while reports of a $400 million Xbox deal have been heavily disputed.

It’s quite the turnaround for a game that was originally announced as the culmination of Kojima’s decades-long relationship with Sony. So, what happened to Physint, why did PlayStation walk away, and what exactly has Xbox taken on?

Physint Started as a PlayStation Project

On January 31, 2024, Kojima Productions announced a new action espionage game in partnership with Sony Interactive Entertainment during a PlayStation State of Play presentation.

At the time, Hideo Kojima said production would begin in earnest after Death Stranding 2: On the Beach. He also highlighted his almost 30-year history with Sony, saying the companies had effectively grown the action-espionage genre together and that the new collaboration would extend beyond Sony’s traditional games business into its wider film and music expertise.

The ambition was clear from the beginning. Kojima Productions said the game would use cutting-edge technology and a major cast to blur the boundaries between games and movies. Kojima later explained that it would absolutely be a game, but one cinematic enough that someone walking into the room might mistake it for a movie.

There was another important reason for Kojima’s return to espionage. Since leaving Konami and establishing an independent Kojima Productions, fans had repeatedly asked him to make something resembling the Metal Gear games that defined much of his career.

Kojima has said that becoming seriously ill in 2020 also changed his priorities. After undergoing surgery and confronting his own mortality, he reconsidered what he still wanted to make and ultimately decided to return to action espionage. Kojima Productions now describes Physint as its third original IP and the culmination of Kojima’s roughly 40-year career as a game creator.

We Finally Started Learning More About Physint in 2025

For more than a year, very little was known about the game beyond its enormous ambitions. That all changed during Kojima Productions’ 10th anniversary Beyond the Strand event on September 23, 2025.

The studio revealed early artwork for Physint alongside three members of its cast: Charlee Fraser, Ma Dong-seok, also known as Don Lee, and Minami Hamabe. Even then, however, the identity of its protagonist remained a secret. Behind the scenes, a much bigger problem was approaching.

PlayStation Pulled Out in June 2026

In mid June 2026, Kojima, Kojima Productions president Shinji Hirano and longtime translator Aki Saito attended a video call in which Sony told them it would no longer continue with Physint.

Kojima later described himself as shocked by the decision. His immediate concern was not simply losing the game, but what losing such a major publishing agreement could mean for his independent studio and its nearly 200 employees.

“We’re an independent studio,” Kojima told The Washington Post. “That means if they can’t fund us, our studio could collapse.”

Kojima initially told team leaders that he intended to keep Physint alive and find another partner, but he did not immediately reveal Sony’s withdrawal to the wider studio. He feared employees might see the project as a “sinking boat” and begin leaving.

No employees were ultimately laid off as a result of Sony’s withdrawal. Instead, some staff were reassigned to Kojima Productions’ other major project, OD – KNOCK, while a smaller group continued working on Physint as Kojima searched for a new publisher.

The situation also brought back an unpleasant memory. Kojima has said Sony’s decision reminded him of the cancellation of Silent Hills, the Konami horror game he was developing with Guillermo del Toro before leaving the company in 2015. Its famous playable teaser, P.T., had already been released before the full game was canceled.

With actors, artists, and other collaborators already involved in Physint, Kojima didn’t want to find himself telling another group of people that a major project they had joined would never be completed.

Xbox Steps in to Save Physint

Kojima began looking for another publishing partner and spoke with several potential collaborators before turning to Microsoft. Xbox was an obvious candidate. Kojima Productions was already working with the company on OD – KNOCK, its experimental horror project, meaning the two companies already had an established relationship.

That relationship proved important. After almost three months of searching for a way to keep Physint alive, Kojima Productions announced in September that Xbox would become the game’s new publishing partner. According to Kojima, most of his employees didn’t learn that Xbox had secured the project until the day before the public announcement.

Speaking about the partnership, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma said, “Creators have choices about where and how they bring their ideas to life,” adding that Xbox was honored Kojima had chosen it to continue work on Physint.

Kojima described the agreement as an expansion of the studio’s existing Xbox relationship “beyond OD” and said development would continue with the aim of redefining the action-espionage genre.

Xbox hasn’t simply agreed to publish another Kojima game either. Microsoft and Kojima Productions have confirmed that their expanded partnership will extend beyond games, with the companies also collaborating across film and television. That fits particularly well with Physint. From the day it was announced, Kojima has described the project as something designed to sit somewhere between the worlds of games and cinema.

Bill Skarsgård Is Physint’s Protagonist

Just a week after Xbox was confirmed as the new publisher, another major piece of Physint fell into place. During the Xbox Tokyo Game Show broadcast on September 17, Kojima revealed that Swedish actor Bill Skarsgård will play the game’s protagonist. Skarsgård is perhaps best known for his terrifying performance as Pennywise in It, It Chapter Two, and the new IT TV show, Welcome to Derry.

He joins the previously announced Charlee Fraser, Don Lee and Minami Hamabe, with further casting announcements still expected. Kojima also personally photographed Skarsgård and Fraser for a new Physint poster. He said the pair had already completed costume fittings, scans and camera tests earlier in 2026, and that working with them had given him greater confidence in the direction of the project.

Where Does Physint Development Stand Now?

Despite the high-profile cast and publishing drama surrounding it, Physint is still relatively early in development. Kojima has said the game’s plot and overall concept have been written and storyboards exist. Work on 3D models and actor scanning has also begun, while casting and collaborations with outside creators continue.

However, there is still no confirmed game engine, and Kojima has said the studio has been experimenting with different technologies rather than committing to one publicly. There is also no release date or release window. That means Physint should still be considered a project that is several important stages away from release rather than a game approaching completion.

Is Physint an Xbox Exclusive Now?

We don’t know yet. Xbox is now publishing Physint, but that doesn’t automatically mean the game will only appear on Xbox platforms. Neither Xbox nor Kojima Productions has announced a final list of platforms or confirmed an exclusivity agreement.

When Kojima was subsequently asked whether Physint could still appear on PlayStation, he said he did not know and that it was ultimately a question for Xbox.

Why Did PlayStation Drop Physint?

This is where things become less clear. Kojima says Sony didn’t tell him why it was ending its involvement with Physint. He has said he was confused by the decision, particularly because he believed the project was secure, and wished Sony had raised its concerns earlier.

Sony’s public explanation has been similarly limited. PlayStation said it had made the decision after “careful consideration,” while stressing that it continued to admire Kojima’s vision and considered its wider relationship with him and Kojima Productions to be strong.

Reports have offered more possible explanations, such as rising development costs, missed development targets, potential profitability and questions over how long the game would remain exclusive to PlayStation.

Kojima Productions subsequently pushed back against speculation surrounding the decision, pointing out that those claims did not come from official or on-the-record sources. The studio also directly reassured fans that it remains in a “healthy, profitable state,” development of Physint is continuing with Xbox, and its relationship with PlayStation remains strong.

So, while there are credible reports offering possible explanations for Sony’s withdrawal, the exact reason has never been publicly confirmed by Sony.

Is Xbox Really Spending $400 Million on Physint?

Probably not, at least according to the latest reporting. A $400 million figure began circulating in September after Christopher Dring of The Game Business discussed reports surrounding the scale of Physint and the money involved in its previous and current publishing arrangements.

That quickly turned into claims online that Xbox had agreed to spend around $400 million on the game. However, several reporters have since challenged that interpretation, stating the amount was significantly less than $400 million. 

Dring later clarified that he had also been told Xbox was paying considerably less. Part of the confusion appears to come from several different numbers being discussed around the project. These could include the value of Sony’s original agreement, rising development estimates, figures discussed during negotiations, potential costs involving major actors and multimedia projects, and the amount Xbox has actually committed under its new deal.

The actual budget for Physint hasn’t been publicly disclosed by Xbox or Kojima Productions. For now, the safest conclusion is that the widely circulated $400 million Xbox figure is unsupported, while multiple reports from people claiming knowledge of the agreement say Microsoft’s actual commitment is substantially lower.

Kojima and Sony Are Not Necessarily Finished

Despite everything that happened, this shouldn’t be mistaken for another Kojima versus Konami-style breakup. Kojima has explicitly said he is not fighting with Sony and still considers the relationship intact. Kojima Productions has made the same point publicly, while Sony has said it expects to continue collaborating with Kojima and his studio in the future.

Whether that eventually results in another game remains to be seen, but Physint moving to Xbox doesn’t currently appear to mark the end of Kojima’s decades-long relationship with PlayStation.

This Is Not Kojima’s First Xbox Project

While Physint moving from PlayStation to Xbox is significant, this is not the first time Kojima and Microsoft have worked together. Xbox and Kojima first announced a partnership in June 2022, when Microsoft revealed that Kojima Productions was creating an unusual new game designed to take advantage of its cloud technology.

That project was formally revealed at The Game Awards 2023 as OD, an experimental horror game involving filmmaker Jordan Peele and actors including Sophia Lillis and Hunter Schafer. It has since been revealed under the title OD – KNOCK.

That existing relationship helps explain how Xbox came to be in the right place when Physint suddenly needed another home. Whatever Physint eventually becomes, its route to release is already unusually dramatic. A project announced with the “full support” of Sony nearly disappeared when PlayStation withdrew, leaving Kojima worried about the future of his independent studio.

Instead, it has become the second major Kojima Productions project backed by Xbox, gained Bill Skarsgård as its leading man, and expanded a Microsoft partnership that now stretches beyond games and into film and television. For a game that hasn’t even settled on an engine yet, Physint has already had quite the story.