Ex-PlayStation Boss 'Shocked' as Sony Drops Kojima's PHYSINT

Former SIE Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida says he was stunned by Sony's sudden exit from Hideo Kojima's PHYSINT, which Xbox will now publish.

Well, this one came out of nowhere. Sony has abruptly pulled out of Hideo Kojima's spy action game PHYSINT, and almost immediately, Kojima Productions and Xbox announced that Xbox will take over publishing duties. If your jaw just hit the floor, you're not alone.

One person who felt it even harder? Shuhei Yoshida. The former president of SIE Worldwide Studios and head of PlayStation Studios hopped online to share his reaction, and his word of choice was simple: "shocked." Just shocked. Honestly, fair.

Yoshida and Kojima go way back. They first met while Kojima was still making games at Konami, when Yoshida was Sony's point man for developers. Their relationship even had some spice early on: when Policenauts was being ported to PlayStation, the two reportedly argued over the game's review process. That friction is apparently where they really started to get to know each other.

But it was Metal Gear that turned their connection into something bigger. Kojima always valued PlayStation, and the original Metal Gear Solid became a massive hit on PS1. Metal Gear Solid 2 and Metal Gear Solid 3 only deepened that bond. On Sony's side, Yoshida was known as a manager who genuinely championed creators, long pushing big projects and the teams behind them.

Then came 2015, when Kojima split from Konami and founded Kojima Productions. Yoshida and PlayStation stepped up in a big way: in December 2015, Sony officially announced a partnership with the studio, with Kojima's first independent game launching first on PS4. That support mattered, and everyone knew it.

Yoshida has never hidden his love for Kojima's work, and Kojima has thanked him publicly more than once. Even after Yoshida moved from running first-party studios to supporting indie games, and eventually left Sony in 2025, the two stayed close. Which makes this whole PHYSINT shake-up sting a little more.

So now the question hanging in the air: what does Sony's exit mean for PHYSINT, and what does Xbox's involvement look like? We don't have those answers yet, but you can bet we'll be watching. What's your read on this whole situation? Drop your thoughts below.