Kojima Wanted Sony to Talk Before Cancelling PHYSINT

Hideo Kojima says he was shocked when Sony pulled out of PHYSINT, and while he holds no grudge after 30 years together, he wishes they had talked it over first.

Hideo Kojima has opened up about Sony walking away from PHYSINT, and honestly, his reaction is way more chill than most of us would manage.

In a chat with IGN, Kojima admitted he was genuinely shocked when Sony asked to cancel the project. Around the same time, Kojima Productions and Xbox announced that Xbox would be handling publishing duties for PHYSINT going forward. So yeah, a lot happened at once.

Here's the thing though — Kojima isn't angry. He gets it. "I know there's a lot of news in the game industry right now, many studios are closing, many game projects are being cancelled, and I understand the situation the industry is in," he said. "But I thought PHYSINT was fine, I thought PHYSINT was safe. So I was surprised at the time, but it wasn't just surprise — we couldn't even understand the reason. I didn't feel anger or sadness."

That last part is what really sticks. Not anger, not sadness — just confusion. Kojima said Sony's decision to exit the project was something he never saw coming. "Them deciding to withdraw from the project was something I never expected no matter what," he explained. "But personally, I like Sony. I don't have any bad feelings toward them, because I know the whole game industry is going through a difficult time right now."

Still, there's a bittersweet note here. Kojima and Sony have been working together for roughly 30 years, and he wishes they'd had a proper conversation before things got to this point. "I've always been a big Sony fan. I've always used Walkman, all my cameras are Sony," he said. "So I don't have any bad feelings toward them. I've worked with them for about 30 years... I had good relationships with Mr. Ken Kutaragi and Mr. Kaz Hirai. But recently that hasn't been the case. I realized, okay, this is reality."

That line about Kutaragi and Hirai hits different. Those were the Sony legends who helped build PlayStation into what it is today, and Kojima clearly treasures those relationships. But times change, people move on, and the industry keeps shifting under everyone's feet.

So where does that leave PHYSINT? It's now an Xbox-published project, which is a wild turn for a game that was originally tied to PlayStation. Kojima isn't burning bridges, but he's also not pretending everything is sunshine and roses. He wanted communication. He didn't get it. And now he's moving forward.

What do you think — should Sony have given Kojima a heads-up before pulling the plug, or is this just how the business goes sometimes? Drop your thoughts below.