A reported $400 million budget for Hideo Kojima’s Physint has already been walked back over the weekend, with multiple outlets now saying Xbox is paying nowhere near that figure for Hideo Kojima’s stealth game.
The number originated from Christopher Dring of The Game Business, who said on his podcast on Friday that Xbox was “signing Kojima for a project often referred to as Physint with a budget around $400 million”.
Later, however, Dring himself clarified on X/Twitter that Xbox is likely paying “quite a bit less” than the figure Kojima had originally quoted Sony – Dring originally said he’d heard “everything from $300 million to $600 million, although it’s $400 million that is the figure that is bandied around” – and Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier said his own sources described Microsoft’s negotiated figure as “significantly less than this”.
Windows Central’s Jez Corden went further, saying Xbox is paying only a “fraction” of it, although neither source reported an actual figure.
Physint, Kojima Productions’ action-espionage title and spiritual successor to Metal Gear Solid, was originally announced as a PlayStation project. Sony reportedly spent months negotiating with the studio before pulling its funding after the project exceeded budget and missed deadlines.
Metal Gear and Death Stranding creator Hideo Kojima has spoken about a number of topics concerning Sony’s sudden decision to back away from publishing his tactical espionage project, Physint. It was a decision made in June, and though Kojima was able to convince Xbox to pick up the Metal Gear successor and continue funding and publishing it.
The deal includes movie and TV licensing rights for Physint, along with improved terms for Kojima’s other in-development project, the horror game OD.
Xbox is now once again embracing exclusives, notably confirming recently that Xbox games Gears of War: E-Day and Clockwork Revolution won’t be released on PlayStation. However, some games such as Forza Horizon 6 and Fable remain in the works for PS5, so there’s hope for Physint.
“I think all of that will be announced at a later time,” Kojima said when asked recently. “I’m not sure yet, and I can’t really say.”
Yesterday, we reported that Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella praised Xbox’s ongoing “streamlining” under Xbox CEO Asha Sharma just days after another 268 layoffs were announced and what appears to be the impending closure of British studio Ninja Theory, as well as organisational changes as Obsidian moves under Bethesda’s control, Playground and Turn 10 merge, Undead Labs goes independent, and Rare, World’s Edge, and Halo move under Activision’s control.
