"Physint" cancelled: Sony kicks Hideo Kojima out – Xbox says thanks
Sony quietly cancelled Hideo Kojima's stealth game 'Physint' in June – the Playstation 6 is already losing one of its most prominent exclusive titles.
In case you were wondering when Sony would finally stop shooting itself in the foot: not today. The speedrun to ruin continues unabated. As announced on September 10, the PlayStation manufacturer cancelled Hideo Kojima's new game "Physint" back in June. Kojima spent three months looking for a new partner – and found one at Microsoft, of all places.
Source: Fox Television
"Physint" was announced in January 2024 with maximum pomp. In a two-minute video, Hermen Hulst – then head of PlayStation Studios, and shortly thereafter co-CEO – proudly announced that the cult auteur was working on a new stealth game. Kojima stood next to him. Hulst still acted as if he had personally initiated the whole thing. Quote: It was an adventure he had been "encouraging" Kojima to reinvent "for years."
To dig up an old meme: "Cool story, bro."
What is known about "Physint"?
Kojima is known for not thinking small, so it comes as no surprise that the plans for "Physint" are ambitious. It is intended to be not only a kind of best-of of the designer's work to date, but also a work that goes beyond the medium of video games. Specifically, Kojima wants to bring film and gaming even closer together.
Depending on who you ask, these words sound more like a threat than a promise of a good time. But at the very latest since the 71-minute cutscene in "Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots," no one can claim they didn't know what they were getting into.
Kojima is a storyteller. Often a brilliant one, but sometimes one with the energy and coherence of an ADHD toddler who has sipped on an espresso spiked with speed.
Source: Konami
There was hardly any further information about "Physint" after the announcement, which is also due to the early development phase the game is still in today. The actual start of production was shortly after the release of "Death Stranding 2" in the summer of 2025. Consequently, the release is still a long way off.
Kojima estimated that the game would not be released before 2030, which makes it safe to assume that it was planned for the PlayStation 6. Development times of this length are normal in the modern AAA landscape. Nevertheless, this fact likely played a role in the decision to cancel the project.
Why did Sony cancel "Physint"?
Because Hermen Hulst is only satisfied when the PlayStation brand has the same relevance as Furbys, fidget spinners, and the Macarena dance – which is to say, none at all. At least that is the impression one gets after his two-year "reign of terror" at the top of PlayStation.
Under Hulst's leadership, Sony has closed the successful remake studio Bluepoint, trimmed down "Destiny" developer Bungie, and most recently announced that it would be moving away from physical games starting in 2028.
The fact that we have been waiting for the conclusion of the "Horizon" trilogy for four years now is also down to the Dutchman: Hulst thought it was more important for Guerilla Games to release an online spin-off of the series first before Aloy's story continued. However, beta testers gave "Horizon Hunter Gatherings" such a scathing verdict that the spin-off is being completely reworked and is now set to be released as a co-op game. If it is released at all.
I have compiled the numerous other missteps in this article, although it must be mentioned in fairness that not all of them can be attributed to Hulst alone. The lack of a plan seems to be widespread throughout the company.
Now one could argue that these decisions are the consequences of a difficult market – and to some extent, that is certainly true. The development costs of video games have exploded since the last console generation. "007 First Light" cost IO Interactive over 200 million dollars. According to unconfirmed reports, the new "Gears of War" is set to swallow more than 400 million – which is also how much Sony's collateral damage, Concord, cost according to insider information.
Source: IO Interactive
The long development times are an additional uncertainty factor. Anyone developing a game in the slipstream of a current trend must expect that the hype will be over by the time of release.
The numerous failed live-service games are a good example of this. Many of them were given the green light because Epic had activated the infinite-money cheat with "Fortnite" – and numerous developers saw endless potential in it. By the time their games finally appeared five or six years later, the potential had long since moved on. Or it hadn't moved away from "Fortnite" at all.
If you add the RAM crisis and the uncertain economic situation, you get a pretty unhealthy business cocktail that at least partially passes as a justification.
And why now, really?
These legitimate arguments are countered by the fact that Sony has just had its most financially successful year ever. The electronics group closed the 2025/26 fiscal year with an operating profit of 463.3 billion yen in the gaming division – an increase of 12 percent compared to the previous year.
As of today, Sony could have easily financed the project. The fact that Kojima and his game were shot down anyway is presumably due to the modest success of "Death Stranding 2: On the Beach." So far, the dystopian mailman simulator has only sold around two million copies. It can be assumed that the production costs have not yet been recouped.
Source: Kojima Productions
The comparison to the first game, which according to Kojima reached over 20 million players – including subscription services like Game Pass – is also telling. Sure, that happened over a longer period of time, but it would be utopian to believe that the successor could even come close to catching up in the next few years.
"Death Stranding" was a fascinating game. But it was also maximum Kojima. As much as I like his silly characters and his high-concept stories, I have to acknowledge that many of his ideas are only of limited appeal to the masses. For some fans, the designer lost a bit of his magic with his first game after splitting from Konami.
It is therefore obvious that Sony eventually asked itself how lucrative it is to finance yet another passion project from a developer who likes to confuse gameplay with an avant-garde experiment.
And if that question then lands on the desk of Hermen Hulst, who hasn't been allowed to fire anyone for fifteen minutes and is correspondingly nervous – well, you already know the answer.
What happens next?
"Physint" and its creator have found a new home at Microsoft. However, the platform change is likely to set development back significantly. A release before 2031 seems unrealistic.
And Sony? Sony will continue to muddle through. I doubt that Hulst & Co. see any need for action at all. The numbers are good, after all. And who needs satisfied gamers or integrity when you can have a few overly rich shareholders who pat you on the back in appreciation instead?
"Play has no limits." Apparently, greed doesn't either.
In the early 90s, my older brother gave me his NES with The Legend of Zelda on it. It was the start of an obsession that continues to this day.
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