decision sony of Stop funding Physint This message was conveyed to Kojima Productions at a meeting held in June, which they participated in Hideo Kojimastudio president Shinji Hirano and translator Aki Saito. Hideo Kojima told the Washington Post that Sony did not provide the exact reason for canceling the agreement.
“I was just shocked and surprised,” Kojima explained. “I didn’t feel angry or sad. I just thought, ‘What am I going to do?’ This is a big deal for us I couldn’t tell the staff at the time. “
risk of failure
The situation is particularly delicate because Kojima Productions is an independent studio whose business model depends on Publishing agreements for individual projects. “We are an independent studio. This means that if they cannot fund us, our studio may go out of business,” the designer said.
The cancellation also reminded Kojima of his experience with Silent Hill, a project that was developed during Konami’s time but was later abandoned, from which PT was born. The worry is having to communicate again with actors, artists, and collaborators that projects they’re already working on won’t be completed.
Hideo Kojima talks OD and Physint at Microsoft TGS 2026 Xbox event
As far as Physint goes, that’s quite a lot of work anyway Advanced at a conceptual level. Kojima explained that he has completed the plot, concepts and storyboards, while Kojima Productions has begun creating 3D models and scans of the cast, which includes Bill Skarsgård. The designer also confirmed that no employees were laid off following Sony’s decision: some employees were transferred to OD Horror projects, while a small group continued to work for Physint.
At the same time, Kojima contacted several publishers and soon found one Microsoft new partnerhas participated in the publication of OD. The publisher’s changes were communicated to all staff only the day before the public announcement on September 9.
However, the incident does not appear to have explicitly damaged the personal and professional relationship between Hideo Kojima and PlayStation. “I still have this relationship with Sony. I still use Sony cameras, I still use my Walkman. We don’t have conflicts. We don’t argue,” he said.
Kojima continued to express great confidence in Physint’s future, calling it probably “the most marketable game I could create” and explaining that he never thought the project would be cancelled. However, the story deepened his concerns about independent studios struggling to secure financing and investment increasingly focused on blockbuster productions.
“I wanted to firmly defend independent studios, so I had to find a new partner,” Kojima concluded.