Kojima's Physint Moves to Xbox After PlayStation Split

Did you see this one coming? PlayStation has officially walked away from Hideo Kojima's stealth action game Physint, but in a twist that feels straight out of a Kojima plot, Xbox has swooped in to save the day.

Sony confirmed today that it will no longer be working with Kojima Productions on Physint. The company didn't explain why it decided to end support for the project, leaving fans to speculate about what went down behind the scenes. In its official statement, PlayStation said it continues to have "great admiration for Hideo Kojima's vision for the game" and looks forward to "continued close collaboration with Hideo Kojima and his award-winning independent studio in the future." So the door isn't fully closed, even if this particular project is moving on.

Kojima himself shared more details on his personal social media account, revealing that PlayStation cancelled Physint as of mid-June this year. According to Kojima, the new collaboration with Xbox came about because his studio was determined to keep the project alive. That determination paid off, and now both of Kojima's upcoming projects are being made in partnership with Xbox, a pretty big departure from his long history of developing games for PlayStation.

Xbox CEO Asha Sharma welcomed the news with a statement of her own. "We're honored that Kojima-san has chosen Xbox to work with Kojima Productions on Physint," she said. "His ambition to challenge conventions reflects the kind of creativity we want to support at Xbox." That's a strong vote of confidence for a project that could have easily been shelved.

If you're thinking this partnership came out of nowhere, it actually didn't. Kojima already has an existing working relationship with Xbox, which is publishing his upcoming horror game OD. And Xbox's statement added that its collaboration with Kojima Productions will go beyond these two games, with plans to work together "across film and television to bring new stories to broader audiences." That's a whole lot of Kojima content coming your way across multiple mediums.

As for Physint itself, Kojima assured fans that despite the change in publishers, development "is ongoing and will continue moving forward." The game is still likely in an early phase of development, so don't expect to get your hands on it anytime soon. Kojima has described Physint as his return to Metal Gear-like action-espionage games, and he's said it will use cutting-edge technology to blur the lines between movies and video games. If that sounds ambitious, that's because it absolutely is.

So what do you think about this publisher switcheroo? Are you surprised PlayStation let Physint go, or does Xbox feel like the right home for Kojima's next big swing? Will you be picking this up when it eventually launches? Let us know in the comments.