PlayStation reportedly dropped Hideo Kojima's game due to growing budget and missed deadlines

PlayStation announced earlier this week that it was no longer going to publish Hideo Kojima's upcoming game Physint. According to a Bloomberg report citing people familiar with the project, Sony decided to back out due to a growing budget that was on course to go over limit, missed deadlines, and the fact that the game is still years away from completion. Additionally, the commercial performance of Death Stranding and its sequel reportedly failed to meet PlayStation's revenue expectations, making Sony hesitant to invest hundreds of millions of dollars into another game that would not remain a PlayStation exclusive.

Changes in PlayStation's leadership also played a major role. Many of the executives who had developed a close relationship with Kojima since his public split with Konami in 2015 are no longer at the company, and those remaining do not see investing in his next big game as a valuable move. In contrast, Xbox and its new CEO, Asha Sharma, viewed Physint as a strong opportunity. Unlike Sony, which is reportedly done releasing PC ports of its major non-multiplayer games, Xbox plans to release Physint on PC. The Xbox deal also secures film and TV rights for both Physint and Kojima's horror project, OD, which Xbox was already publishing under an earlier agreement.

This development comes at a highly difficult time for PlayStation, which is currently facing heavy backlash from fans over its decision to end physical game production by 2028. The company has also dealt with middling reviews for its upcoming exclusive Wolverine, high-profile misfires in the live-service space like the short-lived Concord, controversy surrounding its treatment of Bungie, and the closure of studios like Bluepoint. Dropping Kojima's stealth-action project adds yet more bad news to the ongoing challenges currently facing the brand.