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Title: PlayStation Ditched Hideo Kojima's 'Physint' on Budget Concerns,
Missed Deadlines

Link: https://games.slashdot.org/story/26/09/11/201...

Sony reportedly pulled PlayStation funding from Hideo Kojima's upcoming
espionage game Physint over concerns about its ballooning budget, missed
deadlines, profitability, and the fact that it would not remain permanently
exclusive to PlayStation. Kojima Productions has since struck a deal with
Xbox, which plans to publish the game on both Xbox and PC. It's also secured
film and television rights. Bloomberg reports: The new game, Physint, hasn't
yet been shown publicly but excited fans when it was announced two years ago
with its promise of returning to the "espionage action" genre Kojima
pioneered with Metal Gear Solid, the series that propelled him to industry
stardom. Kojima surprised fans this week when he announced he would be
publishing Physint with PlayStation's biggest rival, Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox.
On Wednesday night, Kojima wrote on social media that over the summer his
company had "unexpectedly received notice" that PlayStation was pulling out
of funding the game. "Physint is an important project both to me personally
and to Kojima Productions," he wrote. "Determined to keep the project alive,
we have spent the last three months searching tirelessly for a new partner."
PlayStation also addressed the split on social media, saying it had made the
"difficult decision to step away." Microsoft said it was "honored" that
Kojima chose Xbox and that the two teams plan to collaborate beyond games on
films and television, too. [...] The decision to part ways with Kojima is a
significant move for PlayStation that may have ripple effects. [...] One key
factor is the PC platform, where the Death Stranding games have generated
some revenue. Earlier this year, Sony decided it will no longer release
single-player PlayStation games on PC, Bloomberg reported. Sony would
therefore not benefit when Kojima Productions released a PC version of
Physint on its own or with a different publisher, as it did for the first
Death Stranding. But Xbox releases all of its games on PCs and plans to
publish Physint on PC and Xbox, said the people. "Betting on Kojima-san is an
easy call," said an Xbox spokesperson. "We believe in his team's ability to
build AAA games with groundbreaking, new IP and we believe in OD, Physint,
and our growing partnership."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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