Earlier this week, Hideo Kojima-helmed action espionage game Physint switched publishers from PlayStation to Xbox, a leap across the console divide which might make it more likely to get a PC port. At the time, Kojima claimed PlayStation had tried to can the game, while the console makers tried to paint the divorce as an amicable split. Now, a report’s shed more light on why Sony decided to ditch Physint.
According to the Bloomberg report, the answer is basically every reason you might think a cash-obsessed behemoth still reeling from a bunch of missed live service shots over the past few years would have to get cold feet. Apparently, both Death Stranding and Death Stranding 2 having failed to generate as much revenue as PlayStation hoped played a major role, but that general fear that Kojima games might not be the sort of money printing machines Sony envisioned wasn’t the be all and end all.
Kojima Productions had reportedly missed deadlines on Physint, with PlayStation having gotten stricter about production milestones following the likes of Concord’s quick demise, and the game was set to be well over budget while still years away from coming out. Also an alleged bugbear was the fact a permanent PlayStation exclusive wasn’t waiting at the finish line, contributing to Sony’s unwillingness to further open their purse strings for Kojima and co.
All in all, the list of sticking points are exactly the sort of justifications you’d expect to hear from a company probably slightly perturbed that in getting out of a union they weren’t happy with, they’ve ended up handing their most famous competitor an easy PR win. It’s arguably an indicator just how far up shit creek the games industry is in 2026 that the chance to boast about having a Kojima game in your catalogue and/or stand next to the auteur at one or more of the year’s many showcases no longer seems to offset some or all of the niggling number concerns in the minds of every exec.
When even larger-than-life household names with well-established game-making reputations that big companies love to use to embellish their own are being hot potatoed around, what chance do studios without that in their locker have?
