Kojima Productions has issued a rare public statement pushing back against a wave of online speculation about why PlayStation ended its involvement with Physint, the espionage action game from Metal Gear and Death Stranding creator Hideo Kojima. The studio urged fans and partners to treat the claims with what it called a dose of skepticism.
The project was first announced in 2024 and had been expected to launch around 2030. Earlier this month, it emerged that PlayStation had cancelled its work on the title. No official reason was given at the time, but games journalist Jason Schreier reported that the platform holder backed out after Death Stranding 2 did not perform as strongly commercially as the company had hoped, and that Kojima was already running over budget on Physint and had missed several deadlines.
In its statement, Kojima Productions said it would normally stay silent on unsubstantiated internet speculation, but that the claims had spread beyond the studio and reached fans, creative partners, and colleagues the team has worked with for three decades. The studio stressed that none of the claims came from any official or on-the-record source, and encouraged audiences to take them with a dose of skepticism.
Schreier responded to the statement on Bluesky, writing that it did not dispute any of his reporting and that he had little to add. The exchange has kept the future of Physint in the spotlight, with the studio and the journalist offering sharply different characterizations of the same set of claims.
Kojima himself addressed the situation in an interview with IGN, saying he was shocked by PlayStation's decision to pull funding and worried about the future of Kojima Productions. He added that he holds no bad feelings toward the company, acknowledging that the game industry is going through a tough period.
Despite the setback, Kojima said he is still working on the world, game system, scenario, visuals, design, and actor modeling for Physint. He also revealed that he has not yet decided which game engine he will use to build the title, which is now being funded by Xbox.
Before Physint reaches players, Kojima Productions plans to release OD, an anthology horror game. Kojima has described it as a single-player experience and said he wanted to make it as scary as possible, aiming to go beyond the limits of fear that other games have reached.
The episode highlights the growing scrutiny around big-budget game production, where shifting platform partnerships, commercial expectations, and long development timelines can turn internal decisions into public controversy. For now, Kojima Productions is signaling that Physint remains in active development, even as questions about its budget, schedule, and publishing arrangements continue to circulate.