In his first Hideo Kojima Physint interview since Sony’s shock decision became public, the veteran director has revealed just how close his studio came to collapse after PlayStation walked away from the project. Speaking to IGN Japan, Kojima described a June video call where Sony informed him that funding for Physint, his spiritual successor to Metal Gear Solid, would stop entirely.
The news reportedly left him so stunned that his mind went blank. He could not process what Sony’s representatives had told him, and he says he barely remembers the details of that meeting even now. What followed was weeks of quiet crisis management, a scramble to protect roughly 200 staff, and an eventual pitch to Microsoft that resulted in one of the more dramatic platform switches the games industry has seen.
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What Happened on That June Zoom Call
Kojima had travelled to New York for a Prada event and then on to Los Angeles before returning home to join the call with Sony Interactive Entertainment. He brought Kojima Productions president Shinji Hirano and head of talent development Aki Saito along with him. According to Kojima, Sony explained it could no longer fund development of Physint, without offering a reason that satisfied him at the time.
Kojima Productions is structured as an independent studio that survives project to project, rather than drawing on corporate backing. With only two active titles, Physint and the Xbox game OD, losing one contract meant an immediate threat to roughly half the studio’s workload. Kojima has said he felt no anger toward Sony, only an overwhelming need to work out what came next for his team.
Why Kojima Feared for His Studio
The financial stakes were real. Kojima Productions had previously borrowed from a bank to expand after the release of Death Stranding, and Kojima worried that news of a cancelled project would jeopardise that relationship. He also feared having to let go of developers who had joined specifically to work on Physint, some of whom had left larger companies to do so.
There was a personal dimension too. Kojima noted that 2025 marks both the tenth anniversary of his studio and his fortieth year making games, and he had poured much of that milestone energy into Physint. He also referenced health concerns during the pandemic that made him reflect on how much time he had left to make the games he wanted to make.
Rather than tell staff immediately, Kojima kept the news among the three people on that call while he and his colleagues worked out a direction. He compared the situation to the cancellation of P.T., the playable teaser that became one of gaming’s most mourned lost projects, and said he was determined not to repeat that experience with his team left in the dark.
The Pitch That Convinced Xbox
Within days, Kojima and his team began considering partners beyond Sony, eventually approaching Microsoft and new Xbox boss Asha Sharma. The pitch worked. Physint, once billed as a PlayStation exclusive, is now being developed for Xbox instead, following Xbox stepping in to rescue the project after Sony’s exit.
Since that switch, Kojima Productions has already shown fans the first poster and cast reveal for the Xbox version, signalling that work on Physint has continued rather than stalled. For a studio built around the reputation of one creator, keeping momentum visible to the public mattered almost as much as securing new funding.
Sony’s Side of the Story
Kojima’s interview was recorded before a separate Bloomberg report suggested Sony’s decision stemmed from missed deadlines, budget overruns, and disappointing commercial results for Death Stranding. Kojima Productions has since issued a statement to IGN insisting the studio remains in a healthy, profitable position, that development on Physint continues to progress with Xbox, and that its relationship with PlayStation is still strong.
Neither account fully closes the loop on why Sony walked away. Kojima’s version focuses on the shock and uncertainty of the moment rather than assigning blame, while Bloomberg’s reporting points to more conventional production and sales pressures. Both can be true at once, and readers should treat the exact cause as still somewhat unconfirmed until Sony or Kojima Productions addresses it more directly.
What It Means for Kojima Productions and Players
For players, the practical upshot is straightforward: Physint will not be a PlayStation game after all, at least not as things stand. That is a significant reversal for a title that had been positioned as a flagship first-party project, and it raises broader questions about how comfortable platform holders remain funding large, single-creator passion projects in the current climate of industry layoffs and cancellations.
For Kojima Productions, the episode is also a test of the independent studio model Kojima has championed since leaving Konami. Losing a major publisher partway through development could have ended the studio entirely. Instead, it pivoted to a new partner within weeks, kept its roughly 200 staff intact, and continued showing new material to fans. Whether that resilience becomes the template other independent studios can follow, or a rare case built on Kojima’s individual profile, will likely become clearer as Physint moves closer to release on Xbox.
