A PlayStation exclusive is changing publisher before it even has a release date. Physint, Hideo Kojima’s return to tactical espionage action, is leaving Sony for Xbox. Metal Gear Solid invented that subgenre: infiltration and gadgets instead of head-on confrontation. Three separate statements landed within two days, September 9 and 10, 2026, one from Xbox, one from Kojima Productions, one from PlayStation. Each chooses its words carefully, and none tells quite the same story.
Physint, a project conceived as much as a film as a game
The announcement dates back to February 2024. In comments recalled by PC Gamer, Hideo Kojima described an unusual project: « [Physint] will be both a game and a movie at the same time, » « Of course it will be a game. However, if your mother walks in on you playing this game, she’ll think you’re watching a movie. »
On September 23, 2025, during Kojima Productions’ tenth-anniversary livestream, the studio revealed a poster and an early cast list. Don Lee, also known as Ma Dong-seok, seen in Eternals and Train to Busan, joins the project alongside Charlee Fraser (Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga) and Minami Hamabe (Godzilla Minus One). The game is set to run on an advanced version of the Decima engine, the same one powering Death Stranding and the Horizon series. Guerrilla Games built that engine, and Sony owns it. At the time, the studio pegged the release within six years.
PlayStation cancels, Kojima spends three months searching for a partner
The split began in mid-June 2026. Hideo Kojima recounted it himself on X, in comments relayed by PC Gamer: « In mid-June of this year, we unexpectedly received notice from PlayStation Studios that they would cancel the Physint project. »
The word « unexpectedly » is the one Kojima keeps coming back to. He adds: « Determined to keep the project alive, we have spent the last three months searching tirelessly for a new partner. » Three months of talks, across several areas, before landing back on Xbox, already a partner on OD, Kojima’s other project at the American publisher.
Sony calls it a « step away, » not a cancellation
PlayStation reacted too, a rare move for the company, still according to PC Gamer. The official account wrote on X: « After careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision to step away from collaborating with Kojima Productions on its project Physint. »
« Step away, » not « cancel, » even though it was Sony that ended the project three months earlier according to Kojima’s account. The statement adds: « Our relationship remains strong after three decades of industry-leading, genre-defining creative cooperation. » The site Pure Xbox sums up the shift in its headline: « Xbox Is Officially Taking Over From PlayStation On Hideo Kojima’s New ‘Physint’ Game, » describing Sony as a company that « decides to step away. » The phrasing stands out against the image Sony has carried in recent months, between the choice to shut down the servers of eleven PlayStation games and its defense in California courts over what a player actually owns when they buy a game.
Xbox makes the expanded partnership official
Xbox published its own statement on Xbox Wire, signed by Jeff Rubenstein and dated September 9, 2026. It went online at 2:30 AM UTC the next day. Asha Sharma, Xbox’s CEO, first praises creators’ freedom to decide where and how they bring their ideas to life. She then adds that she is honored Kojima chose Xbox to work with his studio on this new title.
The statement specifies that this relationship extends beyond video games alone, with film and television included, as of the September 9 announcement. Xbox is not simply picking up a project Sony abandoned. The publisher is taking over the entire relationship with the Japanese studio, games, films and series included, at a time when it keeps making gestures of openness, like the fifteen-hour cloud trial opened up on Game Pass.
Kojima Productions confirms it, Asha Sharma savors it
The next day, September 10, 2026, Kojima Productions published its own official statement in turn: « Today, we are excited to confirm that our journey with PHYSINT continues with Asha and the team at XBOX. » The studio adds: « XBOX understands and shares our bold creative vision, and this expands our relationship with XBOX beyond OD. »
On X, Asha Sharma responds in just a few words, far from the institutional tone of the statement relayed by PC Gamer. She names the studio’s two games, then adds: « Proud to build both with @HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN in Japan. A big moment for Xbox. » The message fits in a single sentence, but it says what matters: the game will be built in Japan, with Kojima’s studio.
What remains unanswered
Several questions remain open, and none of the sources answer them. The Decima engine, on which the game is set to run, belongs to Sony through Guerrilla. Nothing in the statements from Kojima Productions, Xbox, or PlayStation says whether the game will still use it. PC Gamer notes that the question has no answer at this stage: Guerrilla Games built the engine, but Sony still owns it.
No release date has been announced. No platform is specified either: the statements describe a game published by Xbox, never an exclusive. OD, Kojima’s other project at the publisher, doesn’t have a confirmed date either. Before the change of publisher, the last known estimates put the game within six years.
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