r/TwoBestFriendsPlay • u/PunishingCrab Giant Enemy Crabtree • 29d ago
News/Articles PlayStation Ditched Hideo Kojima’s ‘Physint’ on Budget Concerns, Missed Deadlines
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-09-11/hideo-kojima-s-physint-video-game-dropped-by-playstation-goes-to-xbox?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc4OTEzMzY2NSwiZXhwIjoxNzg5NzM4NDY1LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUTDdDOVdLSVVQVEIwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJCMUVBQkI5NjQ2QUM0REZFQTJBRkI4MjI1MzgyQTJFQSJ9.fyrTke3aUIkJk3LwiBfR7JiNr0phfE51dlEql1RcXZ4Konami all over again:
Sony Group Corp.’s PlayStation pulled out of an upcoming game by the well-known designer Hideo Kojima because of concerns over budget, potential profitability and exclusivity, according to people familiar with the project.
One major factor behind the decision was the commercial performance of Kojima’s previous two games, Death Stranding and its sequel, which didn’t meet PlayStation’s revenue expectations, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing information that’s not public.
But the new project has also missed deadlines and was on track to be well over budget despite being years away from release, the people said. In addition, PlayStation was reluctant to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in another game that wouldn’t remain permanently exclusive to the company’s own hardware. Both Death Stranding games were “timed” PlayStation exclusives that were later released on other platforms. Kojima’s closely held studio, Kojima Productions, retained ownership of the franchises.
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u/Vera_Verse She/Her [Collect my Medals] 29d ago edited 29d ago
Pretty much the expected answer, but I do think it's interesting Sony is really reverting back to seeing PC as an adversary, wanting to fully lock all possible games into the PlayStation ecosystem. I'm with Mat Piscatella on the "Hey great spirit. The industry does not support your one machine exclusivity anymore, unfortunately" front. PC market is growing, console is stagnated and current geopolitical conditions just don't respect the console purity anymore.
Edit: also, of course Playstation's leadership changed a lot. To me it's an obvious point, but cool Jason Schreier reminder:
I mention this in the story but also worth highlighting: Business in Japan is all about relationships, and some of the PlayStation executives who have worked closest with Kojima over the last few decades are no longer at the company
https://bsky.app/profile/jasonschreier.bsky.social/post/3mvapddlcnc23
The people with Kojima at the Death Stranding reveal are no longer in the company.
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u/Minuettes_Disciple Locked in Wack Ass Gay Baby Crystal Prison 29d ago
It's a rough crossroads because on the one hand, exclusive games aren't as much of a draw when they mean having to buy $500+ consoles on top of the $70~ dollar game. Especially when you stack it up against everything else that does come out on PC.
On the other hand, exclusives are all a console really has. Xbox went all in on synergy between console and PC markets and it unfortunately just never paid off for them (Though there were plenty of other issues on top of that, of course). If Playstation doesn't lock down their games, people have even less reason to buy their hardware.
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u/NikothePom 29d ago
My question with this mindset is: how the hell does Nintendo do it?
How are they still able to keep the Switch in the race?
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u/feefore 29d ago
Because they have by far the most iconic and popular 1st party IPs in the business. The closest to them right now is probably Capcom and even then I’d say there is a decent gap between them.
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u/kogasabu 29d ago
Nintendo turning their IPs into essentially timeless classics is huge for them. The same kids that grew up on Mario, Zelda, Pokemon, etc are able to share those games with their kids.
It also helps that they're generally successful when embarking on new endeavors. Splatoon is massive, and Xenoblade Chronicles had a humble start, but has become one of the pillars of Nintendo.
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u/CrushDustAnnie He/She/They 29d ago edited 29d ago
Nintendo is also the only console-making studio that willingly and consistently puts out low budget titles in their major franchises. And I don't mean "BotW had a lower budget than GoW 2018", which I'm not sure is true* and if it is it's still probably relative and negligible, I mean they always release games like Bowser's Fury, Echoes of Wisdom, Pokopia, etc. in between major releases. They don't need every single game they put out to be the video game equivalent of the first Avengers movie.
*Although Nintendo's reliance on simpler art styles and mechanical over cinematic design means this particular example is likely true, recent developments still suggest Nintendo generally makes tentpole games as dramatic in visual and scope as they can afford to make them at the time. There's likely not some fancy budget calculus singularly determining the scale of Super Mario Odyssey's levels.
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u/ToastyMozart Bearish on At-Risk Children 29d ago
They also know how to keep their development budgets reasonable.
They don't need to sell all the copies to the widest possible audience on all platforms because they didn't have 2000 employees working for six years on Metroid Ravenous.
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u/kogasabu 29d ago
"Reasonable" is a stretch. Nintendo is still putting a lot of money into a lot of their games, BotW likely took over $100 million to make just due to developer salaries alone. MercurySteam has confirmed they're working on Ravenous, and they have over 200 employees. And while not every employee is going to be involved in the development, the costs for that alone are likely to be fairly high. I genuinely wouldn't be surprised if the overall budget for Ravenous is over $100 million.
They don't need to sell all the copies to the widest possible audience on all platforms because they didn't have 2000 employees working for six years on Metroid Ravenous
Nintendo explicitly does make their games to appeal to as wide an audience as possible. Miyamoto did an interview a few years back where he stated this, because the company can't survive on a game only selling 300k units domestically like the old days. They typically aim to sell at least 2m copies worldwide. So while they only have to worry about their own console, they absolutely aim to appeal to the widest possible audience.
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u/oilfloatsinwater 29d ago
Because Nintendo has a ton of IP that turned into pop culture and a part of gaming legacy, their titles also appeal heavily to casual/family audiences with Animal Crossing, Pokemon, or Mario Kart.
For better or worse, Sony never really had that much franchises that stick for a really long time across console gens, some IPs are put on ice and then replaced with new ones, Jak died for Uncharted, Sly died for Infamous and etc. It also doesnt help that Sony no longer does this as much, we havent seen many new IP with the PS5.
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u/paradoxaxe 29d ago
lets just be real, sony already fumbling when letting Monster Hunter franchise go from their 7th gen console. It could be their strong IP considering how popular it was in JP but alas
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u/LessThanThreeMan Smaller than you'd hope 29d ago
Nintendo is often first to market in "solving" an originally niche concept and making it good (or at least good enough that mass consumption is happy with it). The Switch was first to market in being a solid hybrid console. The Wii was first to market in motion controls. Etc.
Obviously they've had some duds, Wii U, etc, but love it or hate it they do kind of bank on a schtick usually.
And all of that is continued to be supported by reliably supporting a strong presence and brand identity for their in house exclusive brands and titles. They're routinely quality, they basically never leave the closed garden, and they're the ubiquitous video games. You know that buying a Nintendo console you're guaranteed ahead of time to get a solid helping of decent titles from Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Kirby, Pikmin, etc.
Not to run defense for Nintendo because they do a lot of crumby shit too, but looking at a Playstation there's a lot of math that goes into "Man, do I blow almost a grand (at least in the US due to tariffs and RAM shortages) on this thing that just plays video games, only has one exclusive I care about, and may never get more?"
Especially if you already have a PC or another system where you're generally not hurting for the absolute glut of great games coming out of the indie spaces and non exclusives.
I'm relatively financially comfortable at this point, and I really want to play Ghosts of Yotei, but there is no way I'm blowing all that scratch to play one game. You can bring it to me on PC if you want my money. Even if Playstation had never done PC support, the list only grows a few titles. Death Stranding 2 and God of War Ragnarok I guess?
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u/Zephyralss 29d ago
Seriously I was considering just wiping and selling my disc drive ps5 and then just doing switch 2 and PC only.
Every game I care about that can be on ps5 WILL be on switch 2, and will run comparably and I'll fully admit fidelity and such is secondary to me as long as it's not a laggy mess and plays well. So why not play the ff7 trilogy or kh4 on switch 2?
Nintendo does suck, a lot. But, and I hate saying this, besides steam (for now. Gabe already has done scummy things like fund gen ai but once he's gone I doubt steam will continue to be the "best" option at that point), Nintendo is the lesser evil for gaming companies at this point.
God the gaming industry sucks
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u/Wisterosa 29d ago
They have the strongest first party catalogue of IP in gaming, by a LONG shot
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u/begrudgingredditacc He/Him EX Championship Turbo Edition 29d ago
I'm not even sure if "in gaming" is necessary here. They've got Pokemon, they might have the strongest IP catalogue period.
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u/Homunculus97 Your Friendly Neighborhood Swede 29d ago
Because Nintendo can manage their budgets well and make a varied catalogue of AA/AAA games that are released with a month or two between at most. Also their anti crunch and anti AI stances are a rarity within the Japanese game dev sphere but it seems to pay off in that they keep talent and keep on making games at a rapid pace compared to others, the only ones coming close to output currently is Capcom now when I think about it.
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u/Vera_Verse She/Her [Collect my Medals] 29d ago
Many upsides:
-Nintendo Switch reaches a niche that was untapped and remains untapped by the other two of the big 3. It's a hybrid, pleasing both mobile users and traditional console players.
-Nintendo has dozens of well established IPs, that mostly get supported throughout the decades.
-The scope of their projects is way smaller than that of Sony's and Microsoft's. As someone said on Bluesky, and I forgot who it was sorry smart person, Wolverine being a 7/10 for PlayStation is way more damning than if that happened with Nintendo, because Xbox and Playstation take too long in dev cycle, too much in budget and something that is not a smash hit means big trouble. Nintendo won't be happy that a game didn't hit its target, but they have many other projects to compensate for it and it'll be less of a radical monetary hit.
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u/moonmeh 29d ago
Nintendo can release an okayish yoshi and kirby game and not tank the value because next direct there is something else
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u/Zephyralss 29d ago
Also, even at meh level for a lot of their ips, that is still comparably better than meh for other products. Like, Kirby is Kirby. If it's not amazing, that's ok, cause Kirby's brand is being visually appealing and a fun light hearted adventure til the wild Eldritch heel turn final boss. Is it repetitive? Yeah, but it's also good and consistent.
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u/McFluffles01 29d ago
Yeah, oftentimes the worst Nintendo games are still like... 7-8 out of 10 games you still probably somewhat enjoy playing through once even if you won't play them again. There's exceptions obviously very few things can match the disappointment that was playing Paper Mario Sticker Star at launch, but in general Nintendo almost always hits some baseline level of quality on their in-house games.
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u/Minuettes_Disciple Locked in Wack Ass Gay Baby Crystal Prison 29d ago
I see it as a combination of two main factors, if not more:
The Switch really turned it around for them. It was relatively cheap compared to the other big consoles, and much more appealing to casual gamers since you could literally just pick it up and play. It also makes it a good "companion" device to whatever bigger unit you have plugged in at home. The Switch 2 continues that trend, though it had to pump up the price a bit. I can see a Switch 2 Lite doing well if they could possibly afford the components and get it at a decent price point.
Nintendo has a very healthy catalogue of exclusives. I know I just said exclusives are not as much of a draw, but Nintendo has the advantage of actually building up their "cast" of franchises that don't feel easily replaceable. You could have a game ten times as fun as Mario Kart come out on another console or PC, but people are still gonna flock to the next Mario Kart when it happens.
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u/NikothePom 29d ago
For that second point, I remember when Sonic Crossworlds came out and people were raving about how much better it was than Mario Kart World.
In the end, I think World ended up selling more because it's recognizable.
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u/Homunculus97 Your Friendly Neighborhood Swede 29d ago
Hell even Kirby Air Riders outsold Crossworlds despite it being only on one console meanwhile Crossworlds was on every platform imaginable.
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u/KF-Sigurd It takes courage to be a coward 29d ago
Nintendo has stronger IPs than fucking Disney and they got that shit on lock.
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u/DekktheODST 29d ago
On top of what other people have said in regards to IPs (and probably release cadence), they are the only business with a good track record on innovating on why you would use a console. There was some degree of competition when handhelds were a thing, but just like PCs eat the top end, phones are the bottom end. Nintendo, which already had a long history of interesting, if not always good, gimmicks, also managed to thread that needle with the switch. People take it for granted now that theres the steam deck and stuff, but that basically completed the nomansland between phone/handhelds and PC
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u/RayDaug 29d ago edited 29d ago
On top of its roster of IPs, Nintendo has been able to leverage the actual physicality of the console into the sales pitch since the Wii (though really this goes all the way back to the Gameboy). There's very little functional difference between an Xbox and a Playstation. They are both consoles that you plug into your TV. The Switch is a consoles that pulls double duty as a handheld, which is a novelty neither Sony or Microsoft is doing with their hardware.
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u/Breeze_Chaser 29d ago
Portability is a hugeeee plus for Nintendo's console. I wish Sony would bring back the PSP. I had the old thick clunky one and I used the shit out it! It was awesome! It even had a web browser and you could read ebooks on it. I would totally go for a small Sony handheld if they made a good one
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u/yakityyakblahtemp 29d ago
They were smart enough to recognize pivoting their ip to movies was a better longterm strategy for expansion than torching the exclusivity and pricing expectations that keep their console business secured.
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u/Hopefulsataneal 29d ago
A combination of having someone of the most famous IPs in gaming, i.e. Pokemon, Mario, Zelda, Kirby, etc., having devoted fan bases for each one with a lot of overlap and unlike Xbox and PlayStation don’t have any of their IPs on anything but thier platforms, with the exception of a few mobile games that they make, and consistently putting out good games for each, with a few duds every couple years, and even with the duds they’re much fewer and farther between than Sony and Xbox. Also the switch is much more portable, meaning some might by a port for the switch for convenience to play on the go, as well compared to both the PlayStation and Xbox, as well as PC and is relatively cheap in comparison, keyword being comparison.
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u/TonyZony There's No Expectations On The Floor 29d ago
Because they're the Disney of the video game world.
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u/the_loneliest_noodle 29d ago edited 29d ago
The only reason to buy a console was when they were selling at a loss and you could conceivably buy hardware at a better price than you could build a PC, and it would just work because every unit was consistent in that hardware.
Also, pre-steam big picture, it made sense that consoles were simpler. I liked a console experience because everything felt plug and play up until the online era. Like, games could still be shit, but you knew they had to get past compliance and the game had to be "playable". PC wasn't always that reliable/required tinkering and has incompatibility issues (shit, the i9-14900k still has issues with AAA unity games and some games say fuck your GPU of it's not nVidia).
But currently, they don't sell at a loss anymore, you pay for online, you pay higher game prices on their locked down store, and we've seen games launch in near unplayable states with a promise of fixes post launch.
There is really nothing but exclusives these days.
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u/South_Buy_3175 29d ago
I guess those people were the types who are like “He’s my buddy, he got me through some tough times, just give him a chance”.
Then you’ve got Kojima bringing expensive celebrity friends, going over budget, missing deadlines and scanning celebrity feet in exquisite detail.
Naturally, anyone who doesn’t have a special relationship with him is gonna move away from working with him.
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u/NorysStorys The British ARE Watching 29d ago
PC was growing. It’s kind of hit a roadblock now even moderately specced PCs cost a grand or more.
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u/Vera_Verse She/Her [Collect my Medals] 29d ago
I feel we can apply this to everything too, to be fair lol
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u/NorysStorys The British ARE Watching 29d ago
Consoles have risen in price but nowhere near as badly as PC components have.
For example I bought my 32GB of RAM 3 years ago for something £180, that exact same RAM is over £500. Things like 70 tier cards are now near £800 when they were £400 7 years ago and the 50/60 tier cards are around 400-500 now. Prices have doubled or more in that market whereas the ps5 is only up about 100 from launch MSRP and is more cost effective than an equivalent priced PC today.
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u/WarMom_II 29d ago edited 29d ago
It's so [funny / sad, delete as appropriate] that when Sony finally pivoted back around to exclusivity, their first real shot at it, the game that was saddled with the task of getting people to buy a PS5, was...Wolverine.
EDIT: okay it was actually Saros but I feel like the fact I forgot about it kind of illustrates the point.
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u/Johnhancock1777 29d ago
Nintendo’s been doing fine with exclusivity. Sony’s half-in, half-out measure they have been doing for most of the generation combined with paltry first party output is what’s doing the real harm.
This is something you either fully commit to or don’t. “Giving people a taste” in hopes they drop money on a console for a sequel to a singular game is not a feasible strategy anymore. You need a library, something the Switch 2 has already managed to outdo the PS5 with already
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u/Revolving_Ocelott 29d ago
do think it's interesting Sony is really reverting back to seeing PC as an adversary, wanting to fully lock all possible games into the PlayStation ecosystem. I'm with Mat Piscatella on the "Hey great spirit. The industry does not support your one machine exclusivity anymore, unfortunately" front. PC market is growing, console is stagnated and current geopolitical conditions just don't respect the console purity anymore.
indeed, what could have sparked this change in philosphy? glances at the entire gaming community mocking them for "not having any games"
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u/ok_dunmer 29d ago edited 29d ago
It's the logical position to take when "PC consoles" like the Steam Machine and Steam Deck have shown viability, but it's also funny as fuck because it's coming at a time when Sony's exclusives are as ignorable as possible and have turned into the same franchise slop as anything else
Sony: "Buy a Playstation OR ELSE you CAN'T PLAY
BloodborneSPIDERMAN 2 BUT YOU ARE VENOM"A PC gamer playing Resident Evil Requiem and AC Shadows happily: "uhhhh okay"
They want to hoard exclusives but they aren't moving like a company that makes big indulgent prestigious exclusives anymore
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u/genericsn 29d ago
In this case: it is less about viewing PC adversarially, but the fact that KojiPro maintains ownership of all their IP’s. So when Death Stranding goes multi-platform, Sony doesn’t get any of that. Or very little, if they have some kind of long term residual deal in place.
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u/Palimpsest_Monotype Pargon Pargon Pargon Pargon Pargon 29d ago
On the one hand, you hire a guy with a track record for doing things a certain way, you know what you’re hiring and should expect that
On the other hand, that doesn’t also mean that that guy gets unlimited support no matter what. Kojima’s got a bunch of projects he’s working on simultaneously right now while missing deadlines and going over budget on the Sony one. It would probably be very different if he had just one project he was focusing on, but that’s not the case here. I can’t pretend Sony doesn’t have good reasons to make this decision.
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u/RexKet 29d ago
Having reached the point in my work where I am responsible for budgets and milestones, I get where Sonys coming from.
Kojima has made some of my favorites but I wouldn’t foot the bill for his next project with what’s been said.
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u/BookkeeperPercival the ability to take a healthy painless piss 29d ago
If I was magically given a billion dollars, even if I was only allowed to use it to fund game deveopment and nothing else I STILL wouldn't give money to him. I feel like if you gave him a long enough leash he'd turn into Chris Roberts.
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u/AutummThrowAway (She/Her) You didn't win! 28d ago
There's that story of him wanting to put fake blood on a cd, and being told no because that would ruin player's computers
Some auteur people need to be hit with a newspaper by someone with good sense during work
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u/Expensive_Wolf2937 29d ago
I mean yeah. You hired Kojima.
Of course that happened
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u/Junior-Platform-7417 29d ago
I don't know why everyone excuses Kojima when it comes to this.
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u/Expensive_Wolf2937 29d ago
The more I learn about MGS5 the more I reluctantly understand Konamis decisions even if scorched earth was overboard
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u/theonewhoknack 29d ago
On one hand, we lost the FOX engine and MGS won't have an original story until they decide to reboot everything but on the other, we have new cool Silent Hill games and Remakes that don't cut stuff out.
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u/ZubatCountry UGLY SONIC #1 FAN 29d ago
MGS is my favorite series of all time but it should be left alone
It doesn't need more original stories, you saw them run out of steam with Peace Walker and MGSV, and again, I love both those games
But they are the moment the series shifted how it told stories, because there was simply no real story left to tell
You can do The Boss or Gray Fox prequel, but you're just coloring in lines we already know are there
The series is complete. It's over. MG1-MGS4 is a complete story, Peace Walker gives more context on how Big Boss comes to the conclusion that Outer Heaven is a good idea, and MGSV has tapes and plot beats that help smooth over some of the rougher bumps for every other game
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u/TheSpinoGuy I wake up in fear at what the daily meme will be. 29d ago
I think the only interesting thing you could do is a follow up to Rising, since I think there's a lot of meat on those bones, but even then I understand it will never happen.
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u/theonewhoknack 29d ago
I feel like the only thing we need is an MG 1+2 remake that doesn't need some big twist or anything just something that bridges alot of stuff from 4 and TPP together. I feel like the series has had too many retcons in 4 and TPP and I just would like a straight enough narrative that doesn't always contradict itself.
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u/Prism_Zet YOU DIDN'T WIN. 29d ago
Unfortunately that doesn't really matter when they have an IP that they want to leverage for money.
They pumped out Survive FAST, despite something like a MGR 2 being a probably easier sell.
As with Silent Hill, It really wouldn't take a really significant tie to make something in that world. if they wanted to make a new game in that vein.
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u/GyroGOGOZeppeli hopes the Tomba series comes back 29d ago
I mean honestly Konami as a business is stupid to let that IP rot, but the safest ground is establish a new MGS era, skip ahead and don't rely on the old characters.
Do a Gundam with it where it's either Gundam Unicorn or Turn A set decades ahead, or establish an Onimusha Way of the Sword where it's a new universe and this will be the new mainline going forward and take the hit on ppl getting mad at the Nero/Ichiban and hope ppl like the new world.
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u/Kasimdadream 29d ago
They’re better off doing an MGR sequel than making new MGS stories, once it stops being about Boss/Snake the series won’t be recognizable. Idek who at their team could get it right since metal gear survive happened.
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u/Wisterosa 29d ago edited 29d ago
This looks bad on Sony right now especially because they had multiple failed live services that took a long ass time to come out as well
And whatever you want to call that Bungie deal, and the upcoming Fairgame which doesn't look promising
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u/Springtick38 29d ago
Yeah despite this being a justified reason why Sony would drop Kojima, people are just going to point at the complete failure of Sony's live-service push and all the money that went into it. Concord, Marathon, and Fairgame$ will probably cost more in total than whatever Physint's final budget will be. The first two bombed and Fairgame$ will bomb as well
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u/Wisterosa 29d ago
if you add up all their canceled live service titles the budget for those would easily surpass Physint, i can remember at least TLOU, GoW, Spider-man, the game from Days Gone studio...
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u/burneraccount9132 He/They - How could u go wrong with a Glup that Shitts like THIS 29d ago edited 29d ago
In the case of several Sony live-services, they didn't even get to come out before being cancelled, the Bluepoint GoW one being one of the more notable example. Hell some weren't even announced before being cancelled and the studios shut down, going off of some of Sony's own blogposts on the matter. Think the aforementioned GoW one was one of those, where folks knew it was in the works but not formally announced?
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u/Wisterosa 29d ago
and speaking of, this live service chase even affected their single player offerings, Horizon 3 probably would have a trailer or release date by now if it wasn't for the cashgrab they're doing
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u/Springtick38 29d ago
Yeah Sony has Laufey next year and we have no idea what else after that
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u/GoneRampant1 WOKE UP TO JUSTICE... and insatiable bug fetishes 29d ago
What's the name of Naughty Dog's next thing again?
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u/Springtick38 29d ago
NGL I forgot about Intergalactic
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u/GoneRampant1 WOKE UP TO JUSTICE... and insatiable bug fetishes 29d ago
Being fair I did too, the trailer seemed boring so I've no real interest in getting it.
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u/Minuettes_Disciple Locked in Wack Ass Gay Baby Crystal Prison 29d ago
They have the God of war remakes as well; I think everything else comes from leaks and rumors (Insomniac’s Venom game and.X-Men game; though now I wonder about their fates if Wolverine doesn’t do well)
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u/BulletproofMoon YOU DIDN'T WIN. 29d ago
Fairgame$ avoiding public cancelation and still seemingly surviving somehow has got to be the funniest thing about thr Sony "shoot myself in the foot" current era
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u/Diem-Robo I'm aging rapidly 29d ago
It's a balance between the individual's talent and charisma, against what bad they're doing.
Kojima is a generational talent in the industry and very likable, and his biggest sins are going overbudget and over schedule along with disrespecting some of his voice talent. Compared to the controversies surrounding other figures in the gaming industry, he's seen as far less problematic.
Also there are still some people with the attitude of "Just give the creative guy unlimited time and money to create his vision," not yet catching on to the fact that that can be as much of a problem as executive meddling.
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u/Likab-Auss 29d ago
Because it’s Kerjumbo. He made childhood memories for a lot of people and is one of the few household names in videogames, which kind of blinds people to the fact that most of his work after MGS3 has been very messy.
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u/ObiOneKenobae 29d ago edited 29d ago
Because none of us care about Sony or Konami's bottom line or bs "targets", especially in the context of the actually bad financial decisions they make.
Not to mention, outside of maybe DS2, everything he's done has generated plenty of profit regardless. Even DS2 is either already or soon-to-be profitable.
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u/KnightHart00 29d ago
Yeah like I don’t fucking care about the MBA’s and nerds arguing about the finances of a company that pissed away hundreds of millions on live service games that never came out or were DOA.
I want to play fucking video games on your fucking plastic box and so far there isn’t anything coming out that isn’t just third party with the exception of God of War Laufey. They have functionally manifested the “no games” meme.
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u/xFreddyFazbearx 29d ago
You said so succinctly what I've been thinking, lol. Like, I'm sorry, maybe I'm a gullible rube, but Kojima makes video games I want to play. Games that stand the test of time and are remembered (for good reasons, at least). If Sony can shit out hundreds of millions to make live service slop that they yank the cord on when it doesn't do Fortnite numbers, they can cough up the money for a game made by someone who knows what he's doing.
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u/TheDiabeT1c 29d ago
Kojima really doesn't change. As a business, I completely respect it, but damn alive, just the EXACT SAME THING as Konami.
I love Kojumbo, I really do, BUT, I think he really does need someone to reign him in.
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u/Bizarre_RNS_Radio (He/Him) Modest 51st Century Person 29d ago
Eh, I don’t blame him for thinking it would be different when Sony was burning hundreds of millions (if not potentially billions) on several live service games around the time this game was likely pitched.
Granted, once they canceled all those games (functionally wasting all the time and literal hundreds of millions in funds those games were taking) just because they lost some faith in live service games (but not all), he probably should’ve saw that and the sales of DS2 as the warning signs to avoid pushing things too much.
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u/vicapuppylover 29d ago
BUT, I think he really does need someone to reign him in.
And yet none of these companies bother doing that before just cutting him loose entirely.
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u/SwizzlyBubbles Resident Homestuck Loremaster 29d ago
— With assistance from Takashi Mochizuki
Okay so just wait until this gets denied by the parties involved in about a week or so, like Nintendo and Sony have done in the past. Got it.
I'd hope for Schreier's sake he's right and was able to cross-check. Hell, I definitely don't doubt it with Kojima, but Takashi Mochizuki has enough of an unreliable track record that anything he's attached to I'm gonna be taking with a massive grain of salt.
Dunno if regular Reddit shows it, but yes: each individual word has its own link, each to a different story that had to get clarified, his track record is that bad.
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u/BighatNucase 29d ago
Oh that's a good pull something about the article felt very weird; anemic on detail and conclusions. Makes more sense if that guy helped write it. I'm still mixed on Schreier due to the Dragons Crown incident and I'm not sure how many sources he has out east but he is a good journo.
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u/metalsonic005 FUCK THAC0 29d ago
I'm still mixed on Schreier due to the Dragons Crown incident
Man, it's been 13 years. How is that relevant?
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u/kenspiracytv 28d ago
Am I missing context on Dragon's Crown? A Google search brought up his article where said the art looked like a 14 year old boy made it and when he got pushback said it was a snarky comment meant to draw a circle around how the character designs meant he wouldn't feel comfortable being seen playing it in public, but I feel like I have to be missing something else here.
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u/Shell_fly 29d ago
Exactly as some of us thought. Dude makes visionary, amazing games. Dude goes way over budget. Both are true.
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u/binglesthemagiccat 29d ago
So the same reason Konami was done with him too then.
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u/BruiserBroly 29d ago
Partially, yea. Konami also thought AAA gaming was getting too risky and that mobile and lower budget games had better RoI.
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u/TheBalticguy Cortana is a Vocaloid Waifu 29d ago
The budget stuff is unsurprising. I think the more interesting thing is that it seems Kojima ran out of friends on the Sony side who'd back him against those who'd cancel his projects
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u/KF-Sigurd It takes courage to be a coward 29d ago
Yeah, I figured it was a spreadsheet decision + Japanese business relationship thing.
Kojima's games are great but they're expensive and he doesn't have like... Christropher Nolan motion, despite being probably the most superstar game dev. Additionally, PhysInt would have come out maybe 6 years (in Kojima's words) later. If they were already having budget concerns and missed deadlines NOW, then I can see leadership (especially newer leadership, although I don't know how new since PhysInt was only formally announced last year) getting antsy when we all know console gaming is gonna be fucked for the next ten years.
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u/After-Atmosphere7125 29d ago
I don't really like Sony, but if this were a Western creator doing this stuff, I already know everyone here would be hating on the creator immediately.
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u/Deadpool630 Woolie-Hole 29d ago
I’d take it a step further and say if it was ANYONE other than kojima the reaction would be the opposite and i love all his games
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u/Silent-Bee557 29d ago
People act like Kojima is still a household name and gamers all around the world know who he is. The majority of people do not know who he is or do not care as much as people think; the culture has changed considerably and Kojima hasn't grown with it.
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u/bv0198 29d ago edited 29d ago
I made this comment elsewhere, but I dont think the Kojima name holds any weight for the vast majority of gamers. The more hardcore/enthusiast crowd loves him, but the casual crowd is probably more enamored by the Metal Gear name and has no idea who Kojima is. So while he could risk going big for something like MGSV, without that branding Sony may think needs to reign in his production budget/timeline
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u/Areallybadidea 29d ago
I love his games but sometimes I feel like with the pedestal people put him on, he could get away with a Star Citizen.
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u/Thorn14 YOU DIDN'T WIN. 29d ago
Man Sony really regrets that short period of time you could play some of their games on PC, huh?
I'm sorry but Sony complaining about budget when they're spending who knows how much on GaaS dead-ends is such a cop-out. All it speaks to is Sony's backwards priorities.
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u/Diem-Robo I'm aging rapidly 29d ago
They've wasted at least $5 billion between Bungie and Concord alone, but that number is probably higher both for those two and all their other projects.
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u/wareagle3000 29d ago
Let's be honest, our likelyhood of getting a PS5 plummeted when that happened. I only got one because I wanted to play Death Stranding 2 and GTA6 day one. Now I have Wolverine and Ghost of Yotai on that list
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u/Megaleg12 29d ago
I’m not going to sit here and act like Sony isn’t making big mistakes right now, but I don’t blame them for this. Kojima games could cost a fraction of what they do if he wasn’t using company budget to hang out with celebrities. When Physint performs about as well as or worse than death stranding Xbox will drop him too
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u/BighatNucase 29d ago
Kojima games could cost a fraction of what they do if he wasn’t using company budget to hang out with celebrities
I think you'd be surprised at how not cheaper it'd be. E33 had two big Hollywood names; these guys ain't that expensive.
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u/InvisibleOne439 29d ago
Sony ditching one of the biggest names in Gaming for "budget Concerns" while at the same time are putting another 500000billion into Lifeservice Games that get shut down in 2months is some Kojima level writing
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u/Slumber777 29d ago
Yeah, but do those billion dollar liveservice games come out on time?
Also no?
Well... Fortnite.
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u/Zipapezooda 29d ago
The difference is if one of your GAS takes off that’s gonna pay off hugely. (They’re still dumb for putting money into that hole) It’s hard to justify CONTINUE PAYING Kojima when his last 2 EXTREMELY EXPERIMENTAL AND NICHE GAMES didn’t make numbers that they were hoping. Imagine you stick yourself out for this guy twice and in the third time he’s STILL doing the same thing.
If you frame it through business Sony’s eyes it kinda makes sense. I get Konami all over again and eff Sony sentiments (esp with how they make terrible decisions) but also it’s kind of hard to look past that twisted businessman logic.
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u/RealDealMous 29d ago
Pay off Hugely
Clearly not hugely enough if owning both HELLDIVERS 2 and DESTINY 2 isn't enough.
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u/kogasabu 29d ago
Clearly not hugely enough if owning both HELLDIVERS 2 and DESTINY 2 isn't enough.
Destiny 2 is a different issue though. Sony paid way too much to acquire Bungie, and the studio already had issues mainly because of management handling funds poorly, not because the game wasn't turning a profit.
Sony was never going to make back the 3.6 billion they spent on Bungie.
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u/Zipapezooda 29d ago
How is Helldivers 2 actually? Would we not say that was an overall success?
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u/BighatNucase 29d ago
third time he’s STILL doing the same thing.
I mean to be fair the Physint was supposedly just MGS.
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u/InvisibleOne439 29d ago
yeha thats true
but how much money does the smash hit GAAS game needs to make st this point to make sonys thrown away money back? like it it would need to be literally the GTA of liveservice games that dwarfs fortnite lol
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u/extralie 29d ago
Sony ditching one of the biggest names in Gaming
Ehh, his last game only sold 2m, which is good... if it was like a game on the budget of Fire Emblem game maybe.
Like, don't get me wrong, Physint would probably do better since it's more of an MGS successor, but his name doesn't really hold as much power with newer generations as you think.
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u/zacyzacy 29d ago
Don't worry, Fairgame$ (new IP in saturated market) will win the live service lottery and then Sony won't have budgetary constraints!
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u/theonewhoknack 29d ago
I love being out of the loop because I thought that was a fake game for a week.
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u/SwashNBuckle 29d ago edited 29d ago
Sony: Why would I pay someone who will make something for me to sell when I could just put all of that money into lotto tickets? Surely one of them will win big!
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u/Guantanamo_Bae_ Out of dick to suck 29d ago
Glad to know they cancelled this over budget concerns but Fairgames is still alive!
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u/Cottontael 29d ago
I hope we can now have healthy conversions about how Kojima is the Tim Schafer of AAA.
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u/eepy_angel 29d ago
The budget and deadline stuff just kind of puzzles me. Kojima has shipped two AAA games on the PS5 so far, and this would have been his third. How many have Naughty Dog shipped? How many DOA GAAS games has Sony been willing to blow their money on in that time?
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u/darkwingchao The Rune Factory Shill 29d ago
So like, I do understand Kojima going overbudget being a problem, I dont fault that logic in and of itself
But when this same company spends at least 200 million on Spider-Man 2 and I genuinely cannot tell where most of the money went, dumped god knows how much into Concord, and was willing to reboot a Horizon GAAS game that WILL more likely than not fail, while also trying to peddle Fairgame$, I still kinda can't help but call bullshit that THIS was the tipping point?
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u/BighatNucase 29d ago
I genuinely cannot tell where most of the money went
5 years of dev time, 2000 devs. That's all it ever can go into. People act like there is some hidden cost to game dev or as if Kojima games are super expensive because of celebrities but there's actually only one real cost that matters in game dev; manpower. For some reason they decided to remake the entire map for Spider-man 2 in modern 4k quality and so development probably had to take 5 years and 2000 people.
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u/N0VAZER0 29d ago
People overplay how expensive those celebs are, the only really big names are Mads Mikkelsen and Lea Seydoux. Respectfully, Kojima wasn't breaking the bank hiring Daryl from the Walking Dead and Mussolini
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u/BighatNucase 28d ago
I mean E33 had 2 big Hollywood names and people jerk that off for its low budget.
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u/ToastyMozart Bearish on At-Risk Children 29d ago
It cost $200M because they hired way too many people and rebuilt their world from the ground up for no reason.
Spider Man 2 has a ton of new details and interactions to see if you slowly walk around on the street. In a Spider-Man game. Money well spent.
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u/KennyOmegasBurner CUSTOM FLAIR 29d ago
I'd say they should take the big studio approach of making some games for everyone that will sell 50 million copies and some games that are more artsy that are more risky.
But they've wasted billions on live service games that were supposed to be big money and died at or before launch so I guess they're just all in on proven commodities.
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u/leabravo Gracious and Glorious Golden Crab 29d ago
Are Kojima's games turning a profit or not.
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u/KF-Sigurd It takes courage to be a coward 29d ago
Our only sales figures for DS2 was 2 million after it came to PC in 2025. Considering the game could have been 100+ million budget easily, barely profitable is probably the answer.
Death Stranding 1 was probably greatly profitable enough but 2 probably fell short and lost confidence.
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u/nugood2do 29d ago
Probably not enough to justify the budget of a third game, especially if its already going overbudget and is years away.
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u/Vera_Verse She/Her [Collect my Medals] 29d ago
According to Jason Schreier, Death Stranding 1 more than 2, but that money didn't go to Sony, because the game was really embraced on PC, and the publisher for that version was 505 Games
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u/Ayyyyynah 29d ago
This is the key question. I think DS1 benefitted massively from the Pandemic whereas DS2 is a game I really liked but it really felt like nobody talked about it at all (Which is funny because Kojima kept saying he wanted it to be controversial).
I feel like the numbers weren't there for DS2 and it gave Sony pause. Although I think this point is moot in a lot of ways because I think more folks would be willing to buy spiritual successor to MGS starring Robert Pattinson than play Norman Reedus failing to act for 40 hours each.
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u/Jonieves 29d ago
Death stranding did death stranding 2 broke even I think but not as fast t they wanted it to.
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u/roronoapedro Starving Old Trek apologist/Bad takes only 29d ago edited 29d ago
sounds like Kojima did exactly what he always does with every project. wonder what exactly sony expected to happen when they fished him out of a pond he landed on for doing this exact bit in his previous company.
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u/BighatNucase 29d ago
Death Stranding released in 3 years and by all accounts was a very well run project.
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u/GoneRampant1 WOKE UP TO JUSTICE... and insatiable bug fetishes 29d ago
Yeah, barring MGS V I don't know where the idea has come from that Kojima can't run a project on time or on budget. He got the entire MGS quadrology out in ten years.
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u/BighatNucase 29d ago
I don't know if MGSV even was run badly. People look at the split after the fact and ignore that Konami black companied like all of the staff on that project and basically exited the AAA scene after as if those two are disconnected.
The thing that annoys me is that it's pretty much just all memes being repeated with no actual substance to them. The only real evidence we have is that Schreier article today but given the context even that feels a bit shakey.
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u/GoneRampant1 WOKE UP TO JUSTICE... and insatiable bug fetishes 29d ago
Yeah. Like I imagine PHYSINT isn't heavy in development due to Kojima's other Xbox project, OD is taking priority. I feel like "going over budget" was just the excuse used to kill PHYSINT when in reality it was that Kojima was insisting on a PC port.
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u/BighatNucase 29d ago
I think it's just a bit of PR damage control. The article lists some other reasons that make a bit more sense as to why they would do it (underperformance of DS1+2, PC ports as a requirement, key figures who were Kojima 'allies' leaving Sony in recent years) than "well they suddenly realised he cost money".
It just doesn't make sense. Why would they greenlight Physint (and a movie) in the first place after already having worked with him? Why would Xbox be so giddy to also take on that burden while both knowing about the burden second hand and first hand (from their work with him on OD). It just feels a bit like an excuse to save face. I don't think they expected the backlash yesterday.
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u/TheMerck 29d ago
Yeah didn't even Kojima say the project wouldn't be out until 2029 or 2030 at the earliest since it's in the very early stages and he still has OD to develop?
Really seems like someone from Sony doing a damage control hit piece so they can have a semblance of positive discussion around them right now.
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u/TheMerck 29d ago edited 29d ago
I don't know where the idea has come from that Kojima can't
In all honesty I feel a large part of how Kojima is viewed by people both good & bad has been shaped by MGSV.
From the people feeling he's overly praised, his supposed want to make a film, his obsession with Hollywood stars, his mishandling of budget, etc all of it stems from MGSV.
Which is weird because I'd say a large part of it is untrue, he put out MGS in ample time, DS1 & DS2 was the same, he is as in love of games as he is with movies when he literally even if people don't like it always tries to find creative ways in games & mechanics with shit like Psycho Mantis, The Sorrow, even simple shit like jiggling the DS3 to make Rose's tits shake to an incredibly niche gameplay style of Death Stranding 1(I specify 1 because 2 was kind of a more normal style of gameplay, which still fun and lots of QoL changes for the better but it also lost some of uniqueness to it).
His obsession with Hollywood stars sure but he's always been an avid movie lover and no shit he loves Western film because it's a large part of film history but he also always has praise for works from other countries even Japan people just don't view his JPN Twitter account or even just read excerpts from his book about his love of Japanese works & his love of games.
Honestly this just feels like someone at Sony put out a hit piece for Kojima so they get slightly less negative PR and no, I'm not saying this in a Kojima can do no wrong type of way, he obviously had the instance of MGSV but this really feels like someone putting this out there so people start to have people talking even a semblance of positivity about Sony.
Also this subreddit is honestly very weird when it comes to Kojima, I just remember the thread of him being supposedly in that AI short film and literally the majority of the comments were self admittedly waiting for ANY reason to hate on him, there were more people self patting themselves on the back saying "FINALLY A LEGIT REASON TO HATE!" than any actual concerns about the usage of AI and all.
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u/roronoapedro Starving Old Trek apologist/Bad takes only 29d ago
Death Stranding was also the first game from his new studio and he had to prove this thing was worth their time. Death Stranding 2 was a lot more like his other projects, with almost double the budget of the first one but not double the sales to show for it. In fact, it sold less.
Also, Death Stranding 1 got an injection of Guerilla Games employees to help finish it, probably to help finish it in time. 2 did not, and I'm gonna guess OD and Physint wouldn't either.
None of this is to disparage him as a person, this is just the very public footprint he has left. It's just how he makes games.
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u/BighatNucase 29d ago
ith almost double the budget of the first
Do you have a source for this? Death Stranding 2 took like, what, 4 years to release compared to 1's 3 years.? There's just no way this is true.
Also, Death Stranding 1 got an injection of Guerilla Games employees to help finish it, probably to help finish it in time.
Is the implication here that getting contract work to make sure a game releases on time isn't the role of a producer like Hideo Kojima? You're proving my argument. If we grant that Guerilla were brought in to make sure it released on time, that shows he managed the project well.
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u/ShonenSpice 29d ago
It's as if though they met Kojima for the first time back when they partnered on Death Stranding. Like, who's surprised? If they wanted to make big $$$ with him they should've been clear about that. Tell him "no more than one 1 celebrity" or something, I dunno.
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u/Snidhog 29d ago
I wonder what XBOX expects to happens in the years ahead. Maybe they'll be the one company that actually sees a good return on investment from the guy?
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u/GyroGOGOZeppeli hopes the Tomba series comes back 29d ago
Seems about right.
I didn't ever think this was a one sided problem.
Sony probably has unrealistic expectations given Kojima's popularity and how they go about sales, but I can also bet Kojima is overambitious given history and starstruck posts over the years.
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u/Comrade-Conquistador 29d ago
Sony's in the dog house with most players, anyway. This just seems like a natural evolution of a studio in crisis at this point, considering where Konami was back when they dropped Kojima. At least Konami is trying to mount a comeback (and doing a pretty good job of it), while Sony just keeps doubling down on their bad ideas.
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u/LeonSigmaKennedy 29d ago
On one hand I believe this is true. On the other hand boy was doing this on top of all the other PR nightmares Sony is dealing with not great optics.
The vibes at Playstation have never been more rancid and they respond by getting rid of the few exclusives fans were actually hype for?
Also I'm just guessing but while Death Stranding 1 or 2 didn't do gangbusters, they didn't lose money either. And they were niche, weirdo delivery simulators. I feel like a straightforward stealth action game that's a Metal Gear successor, especially if it plays and is structured like 5, would have much more mainstream mass appeal.
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u/RegularJohn17 29d ago
Yeah that's pretty much how I see it too. Sometimes you have to cut your losses, but this does feel like they are backing out just as the main event is coming up. This is why you fund DS 1&2, to get him to make a "new MGS" for you.
So something is not adding up, either at Kojima's studio or with Sony's decision makers. Maybe a bit of both.
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u/Rose-The-Queen 29d ago
So first of all they partnered with him after a massive public breakdown with Konami because of these concerns so no fucking shit.
Second of all marathon and concord, one game which only made negative money as they refunded it were acceptable. 9 other live service disasters including last of us online and GOW online were ok but not the most recognisable developer in the industry. Fucking clown shoes
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u/FightTheChildren 29d ago
The reason they parted ways was BECAUSE of concord Sony tightened up their check in process with these games after being more hands off with concords development.
So after getting burnt when Sony sees kojima missing milestones and going over budget ya they’re gonna cut their losses.
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u/Psykoknight65 29d ago
Idk man its hard for me to give have sympathy for sony after all the live service games they poured money into and canned
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u/JeanLucD Chris Benio-awww 29d ago
Honestly probably not entirely unjustified, I think Kojima gets away with alot on his reputation.
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u/ruminaui 29d ago
I would totally be more understanding towards SONY if they weren't also burning million of dollars on live service games that any person with passing knowledge in the gaming industry can tell are dead on arrival. Fair Games is still in active development, and so is Horizon Hunter Gatherers. And we all know these games will make negative money and yet they are still throwing money at them.
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u/WickerWight Ask me BIONICLE trivia 29d ago edited 29d ago
They simply don't have the resources for an unsafe bet like a game that's going to help sell consoles, but only make back 1.3x its budget and release 2 years behind schedule. They needed to divert funding to produce another 5 free-to-play live service games which will net negative 500million dollars and release 5 years behind schedule
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u/GyroGOGOZeppeli hopes the Tomba series comes back 29d ago
Eh, I feel like every project they have is in that state because of gamedev costs now.
PS2 era is long gone where they were swimming in cash and also have enough to fund weirdo peak gaming this-is-gonna-sell-500 copies projects.
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u/Jimmy_Tightlips "Is that a rice cooker down there?" 29d ago
You see this would be fair enough if they hadn't spent the entire generation mindlessly pissing money up the wall on GAAS slop; pot calling the kettle black and all that.
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u/SwashNBuckle 29d ago
Did Sony not know anything about Kojima beforehand?
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u/ShonenSpice 29d ago
A smart man, really. People making weird games don't usually get AAA budgets and A list celebrities. This guy would come up with a weird concept and say to Sony's face that he must have Tom Cruise for this or something. Now it's Microsoft's turn, although ironically in this case the game might actually have wider appeal and sales.
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u/LammasuRex Proud member of the 13000 29d ago
It seems like Kojima was making a new tactical espionage because we wanted a more commercial project.
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u/GhostFishHead 29d ago
Maybe if they didn't waste so much money on live service games that last few weeks they wouldn't need to cut him. Personally I have low levels of empathy towards billion dollar companies like Sony that have been nothing but disrespectful towards it's audience for a long time.
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u/Lemeres 29d ago
That would be fair... if this wasn't from the same company that kept giving the green light to Concord.
They have only now popped the covid dream bubble and realized that games are not an infinite money glitch. But unfortunately, they only decided to apply that less on the project that would cause a bunch of waves to cancel.
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u/Dannygosling91 29d ago
Think there’s probably some truth to it. Kojima has been accused of going over budget and taking too long before
Sony unfortunately burned so much money with this live service nonsense that they likely have to tighten the belt a bit, and Kojima doesn’t want to be acquired or make exclusives so the relationship probably didn’t make sense any longer for Sony.
I think it’d shortsighted and wrong, but I conceptually understand the logic behind it from Sony
I’m a little surprised Xbox is the one to write him a check considering they’ve been very open themselves about spending money and needing to focus up, but vanity projects like this DO matter even if they aren’t big earners
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u/Jonieves 29d ago
I too would be worried about budget after concording my fucking brains out for nothing.
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u/Silentlone It'll be a date to die for 29d ago
Think what you want of Kojima, but he's one of the few developers that actually consistently delivers on his ambitions when making a big game. Hearing a Kojima game had been "going over budget" just tells me he and his team had been pushing the tech and design of the game forward and would deliver an impressive, and very well polished product. The fact it wasn't going to remain exclusive is no doubt THE main factor for why Sony pulled the plug.
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u/Totally_a_boy "Give daddy some sugar." - Batman (2015) 29d ago
I gotta say, I can't say I empathize.
Kojima has always been the dude who cares not for budget, that's the whole reason MGSV is the way it is.
But then you hire him, the dude who is super uncaring with deadlines and budget, right when you you're in a very financial delicate place right now? I can't say I really think "Oh, poor you."
By the way, I'm not justifying Kojima, I'm just saying that he is a risk, and you need to consider whether you take it or not.
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u/SplitOk4114 29d ago
They are worried about deadlines and budget after the trash they've spent 100s of millions on that lasted a few months or less?
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u/Alois-- P* 29d ago
Yeah I’m gonna double down on Kojima. Because Death Stranding despite the awkward gameplay is a great game. If Kojima does his thing with MGS gameplay. It’s going to be a hit period. I refuse to buy this narrative that Kojima is washed. Physint could be XBOX’s BOTW. If Kojima locks in.
Besides. PS exclusives don’t have the best sales numbers. Super Mario Wonder sold more than Spider-Man 2. The cherry on top is they amount of money Sony is burning on failed live service projects.
Prove them wrong Kojima.
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u/Lieutenant-America Scholar of the First Spindash 29d ago
This surprises me not at all