Sony Dropped Physint Because Kojima's Games Barely Break Even?

Ever wonder why Sony suddenly walked away from Hideo Kojima's next big thing, Physint? The Metal Gear Solid spiritual successor is now in Xbox's hands, and according to one analyst, the reason might be simpler than you think: money.

Let's rewind. Sony was originally involved in Physint, but reportedly got cold feet. Bloomberg sources say the project missed deadlines and risked going over budget. Plus, as a timed PlayStation exclusive, Sony wouldn't even own the IP. That made the company reluctant to drop hundreds of millions on a game it couldn't keep. Enter Xbox, which swooped in to rescue the project—a rare win for Team Green.

But why would Sony take the PR hit? Alinea Analytics' Rhys Elliott broke it down. "From a strictly financial perspective, though, I can understand Sony's position," he said. "In a vacuum, anyway. PR and optics still matter." He estimates the first Death Stranding cost around $100 million, and the sequel somewhere between $150 million and $200 million, thanks to a longer dev cycle and COVID. After marketing and the opportunity cost of pulling Guerrilla developers onto the project, Elliott says the franchise has "almost certainly broken even—but not by much."

That's not great for Sony, especially as it's gotten cautious with big-budget bets. Elliott points to recent stumbles like Concord (cancelled, $300 million+ down the drain), Marathon (1.8M sold), Saros ($61 million), Marvel Tokon (725K, $49 million), and Lego Horizon Adventures (under 250K across Steam and PS5, $11 million). "Margins are the name of the game now," he added.

So how did Death Stranding 2: On the Beach actually perform? Elliott reports 2.5 million copies sold across PS5 and PC—1.8 million on PS5 and 700,000 on PC—for $170 million in revenue. That's probably not enough for Sony, given the lengthy development and celebrity cast. Worse, sales have slowed massively since launch, even with the game discounted to $40. For comparison, the original Death Stranding sold about 5 million copies at this point in its lifecycle, though it had deep discounts down to $20.

After a decade, Kojima Productions has released two games that generated around $413 million in revenue, with the sequel noticeably less successful than the first. That's nothing to sneeze at, but Sony made over $80 billion in its 2025 financial year—so Kojima's games aren't moving the needle much. Parting ways might save Sony money now, but it's a bad look for a company already dealing with disc-less consoles, rising prices, and a PR storm. Xbox supporting Physint is a big PR win for Microsoft, and could be valuable as it tries to recapture momentum.

What do you think? Was Sony right to cut ties, or is this a huge mistake? Will you be picking up Physint on Xbox? Let us know in the comments!