Bloomberg: Why Sony Walked Away From Kojima's Physint

A new Bloomberg report claims Sony dropped Kojima Productions' Physint over budget worries, weak returns on Death Stranding, and a refusal to fund another non-permanent exclusive.

Well, this one's a plot twist even Kojima might not have scripted. According to Bloomberg, Sony PlayStation has pulled out of publishing Hideo Kojima's next big thing, Physint — and the reasons are a lot more business than art.

Citing people familiar with the matter, the report says one of the main factors was plain old money. Kojima's last two projects, Death Stranding and its sequel, simply didn't hit PlayStation's revenue expectations. When your previous games don't bring home the numbers a platform holder wants, funding the next one gets a lot harder.

On top of that, Physint has reportedly missed a deadline — thought to be a project milestone rather than a launch date — and despite being years away from release, its budget is expected to balloon well past what was planned. That's a rough combo for any publisher, let alone one already feeling burned.

Then there's the exclusivity question. Sony apparently isn't keen on sinking hundreds of millions into another game that won't stay locked to its hardware forever. Both Death Stranding titles were timed PlayStation exclusives that later showed up elsewhere, and Kojima Productions kept ownership of those IPs. Sony, it seems, wants more for its money this time.

Enter Xbox. According to the insiders, Microsoft — now under new CEO Asha Sharma — is shaking up its own strategy and sees Physint as a smart investment for a few reasons. The PC angle is a big one: Death Stranding made real money on PC, and Bloomberg previously reported Sony decided this year to stop putting its single-player games on PC. So if Kojima Productions self-publishes Physint on PC or partners with someone else, Sony wouldn't see a cent. Xbox, meanwhile, puts all its games on PC and reportedly plans to launch Physint on both PC and Xbox.

The deal is also said to include film and TV adaptation rights for Physint and OD, Kojima Productions' experimental horror game. Sharma has said expanding Xbox IP into linear media is a key part of her strategy, so that fits neatly into the pitch.

As of now, neither Sony nor Xbox has offered any further official comment on the report. Whether this all pans out or gets rewritten later, one thing's clear: Kojima's next project just became a lot more interesting to watch. What do you think — is Xbox the right home for Physint, or should Sony have stuck it out?