Microsoft's Deal for Hideo Kojima's Physint 'Substantially Below What Xbox Would Typically Spend to Develop a Premium Game'

Microsoft’s high-profile deal for Hideo Kojima’s Physint is reportedly “substantially below what Xbox would typically spend to develop a premium game.”

Xbox snapped up Physint after Kojima pitched the game to new CEO Asha Sharma — a pitch Kojima conducted after Sony canceled the previously PlayStation-exclusive project. For more on that, check out IGN’s recent interview with Hideo Kojima himself, where he talks through how he found out Sony had ditched Physint, and his concern about the fate of Kojima Productions.

Since then, there have been a number of online reports about the budget for Physint, with some claiming the deal was around $400 million. Subsequent reports claimed the figure was substantially less. Now, in a New York Times profile of Sharma, it was reported that Xbox may have negotiated a deal for less than you’d expect for what is expected to be a full price, triple-A spiritual successor to Metal Gear Solid from the creator of the franchise.

Here’s the relevant blurb from the NYT article:

Xbox’s deal for Physint includes adaptations (Death Stranding is getting exactly that). Kojima told IGN that Microsoft was “not thinking of just funding a game. They're thinking about movies and anime. It's more about the IP. Let's create a new IP. And that's bigger in scale, so to speak. And not many other game publishers or game developers have that kind of vision.”

So, whatever the exact figure, we know Xbox is funding Physint the project, not just the video game. So we might see a Physint live-action movie (will it go up against the Metal Gear Solid movie?!), potentially an anime, and maybe even more.

Video game production budgets have risen dramatically in recent years, especially in the west where development costs have skyrocketed. Triple-A video game sales haven’t risen to match these rising costs, putting pressure on the triple-A video game industry.

In the wake of Physint’s move to Xbox, Bloomberg reported that Sony had concerns around the success of Death Stranding, as well as Physint’s development timeline, budget, and platform strategy. Kojima Productions issued a statement in response, although it failed to directly address Bloomberg’s reporting.

“Make no mistake, this was a serious situation for the studio with a range of potentially significant implications,” Kojima Productions said. “While we recognise that the article may have caused alarm, we want to reassure you all, for the record: that the studio is in a healthy, profitable state, development for Physint continues to move forward with Xbox, and our relationship with PlayStation remains strong.​”

Physint remains without a release window. It is expected after the launch of OD, Kojima's next video game for Xbox.