Microsoft says Xbox will publish Physint, taking the Hideo Kojima project away from Sony after it was introduced as part of a PlayStation and Kojima Productions partnership. The move puts a new platform holder behind a game Kojima has described as a spiritual successor to Metal Gear Solid.
The timing matters because Kojima has already said Physint could still be another 5-6 years away. That makes the publishing shift feel less like a late-stage handoff and more like a long runway decision, with Xbox now attached to one of his most closely watched ideas before it has even left the early stretch of development.
Kojima said the change widens his work with Xbox beyond OD, the horror game Xbox is also set to publish. He also said the partnership will expand into film and television, which pushes the relationship beyond a simple game deal and into a broader production arrangement.
That broader reach helps explain why the switch does not look like a one-off branding tweak. Asha Sharma said creators have choices about where and how they bring ideas to life, and said she was honored that Kojima had chosen Xbox to work with Kojima Productions on Physint. In Kojima’s own words, Physint is both an interactive game and a movie at the same time, a completely new action espionage project for the next generation.
There is still a sharp contradiction at the center of it. Hermen Hulst announced Physint during the 2024 State of Play broadcast as part of the PlayStation and Kojima Productions partnership, and said PlayStation Studios would fully support it with Sony’s latest innovations. He and Kojima ended that reveal by walking off set as the camera pulled back to show a Columbia Pictures sign with the word Physint below it.
Now Xbox has claimed the publishing role instead, and Kojima’s comments suggest the project is still far from release. He said it would be created with cutting-edge technology and talents from film and video games around the world, which makes the question less about whether Physint exists and more about who is shaping it while it is still years from completion. For now, the clearest answer is that Xbox has moved in before Sony could bring the game to market.
