- Hideo Kojima and Xbox announce a new partnership for PHYSINT, a next-generation action-espionage game.
- PlayStation wanted to cancel PHYSINT earlier this year, leading to Hideo Kojima's partnership with Xbox.
- PHYSINT, alongside OD, will be published by Xbox for the foreseeable future.
On September 9, 2026, Xbox officially announced a partnership with KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS to help publish PHYSINT, a next-generation action-espionage game. This marks a significant change from 2024, when the project was first announced and was being developed in cooperation with Sony.
Considering Kojima’s ties to PlayStation, this sudden move feels rather odd, but Asha Sharma, Xbox CEO, has welcomed the switch with open arms. This is what she had to say in a recent statement: “We’re honored that Kojima-san has chosen Xbox to work with KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS on PHYSINT. His ambition to challenge conventions reflects the kind of creativity we want to support at Xbox.”
The studio previously partnered with Xbox Game Studios on OD, a horror game, with details remaining largely undisclosed. As such, the recent partnership makes sense. However, the situation raised a few eyebrows online, given Kojima’s strong ties to PlayStation, especially after the major success of Death Stranding 2.
PlayStation also made a statement regarding the shift of PHYSINT to Xbox: “After careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision to step away from collaborating with KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS on its project PHYSINT.”
Furthermore, they state their relationship remains strong with Hideo Kojima, and they look forward to continued close collaboration with his independent studio. However, from what we know based on Hideo Kojima’s statement, the narrative is somewhat different.
He states that they received notice from PlayStation Studios unexpectedly about the cancellation of the PHYSINT project. This is what Hideo Kojima stated: “In mid-June of this year, we unexpectedly received notice from PlayStation Studios that they would cancel the PHYSINT project. We have spent the last three months searching tirelessly for a new partner.”
Despite this setback, the genre-defining action-espionage title is on track, and development will continue as planned. We can expect an update later this year. Perhaps we could even get news for Death Stranding 3 or at least a brief look at the concept that Hideo Kojima has envisioned.
