PlayStation tried to stop PHYSINT — Kojima kept it alive and took it to Xbox

PHYSINT officially has a new publisher.

Xbox and KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS announced an expanded partnership on September 9, confirming that Microsoft will publish Kojima's action-espionage project alongside their existing collaboration on OD.

Kojima then explained why a new partner was necessary.

According to him, KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS unexpectedly received notice from Sony Interactive Entertainment in mid-June that PlayStation Studios was cancelling its involvement with PHYSINT.

Kojima spent three months trying to keep the game alive

PHYSINT did not end with Sony's decision.

Kojima says the project is personally important to him and to his studio, so KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS spent roughly three months searching for another company willing to continue it.

That search ultimately led back to Xbox.

Xbox CEO Asha Sharma says Microsoft is honored that Kojima chose the company for the project and points to his willingness to challenge conventions as the kind of creative ambition Xbox wants to support.

For Kojima, it expands an existing relationship rather than starting one from scratch.

PHYSINT began as a PlayStation project

The game was announced during PlayStation's January 31, 2024 State of Play.

Kojima appeared with then-PlayStation Studios head Hermen Hulst to reveal a new action-espionage IP that would enter full production after Death Stranding 2.

At the time, Kojima explicitly invoked almost three decades of creative history with Sony and described the project as a potential culmination of his career.

PHYSINT was also pitched as more than a conventional stealth game. Kojima said he wanted its technology, performances, fashion, sound and cinematic presentation to blur the boundary between an interactive game and a film.

Sony says the wider relationship is not over

PlayStation Studios has confirmed its withdrawal.

The company describes the move as a difficult decision made after careful consideration while continuing to express admiration for Kojima's vision.

Sony also says its relationship with Kojima and KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS remains strong after three decades of collaboration.

So the distinction matters: PlayStation has left PHYSINT. It has not announced a complete break with Kojima.

Xbox is taking over a project with unusual symbolic weight

For Kojima, PHYSINT marks a return to action espionage after leaving Konami and the Metal Gear series in 2015.

It is not a Metal Gear game and uses a new IP, but the lineage is impossible to ignore when its creator is explicitly returning to the genre he helped redefine.

KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS revealed the first key art in September 2025 and confirmed Charlee Fraser, Ma Dong-seok and Minami Hamabe as members of the cast.

The protagonist and most of the actual game remain hidden.

Xbox has not announced where PHYSINT will launch

The publishing deal answers one major question and creates another.

Xbox has not announced platforms for PHYSINT.

There is no release date either.

Kojima said in 2025 that the project was still years away and could require another five or six years of development. With the publishing structure now changed, treating any old estimate as a fixed launch target would be premature.

The new partnership extends beyond games

Microsoft and KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS are already making OD together.

PHYSINT now turns that collaboration into something much broader, and Xbox says the two companies also intend to work together across film and television.

No specific screen projects have been announced yet.

The immediate result is striking enough on its own.

A game unveiled by PlayStation as the next chapter in a decades-long creative relationship was cancelled by Sony, kept alive by Kojima and picked up by Xbox.

PHYSINT survived. Its identity as a PlayStation project did not.