Former PlayStation Boss Reveals His 'Surprised' Reaction To Kojima's New Xbox Partnership

I don't know what the state of this game is. I don't know if Sony is right to cut bait or if Microsoft pulled off the heist of the century.

I just know that this whole thing is weird, and that makes it kind of funny! 😀

You know, it’s funny. A year ago I was saying my series X was my first and also last XBox.

Now my PS5 Pro will be my last PS, and my Series X just might be the first but not last, with Sony continually shooting themselves in the privates and MS doing things like this.

What a difference!

Hopefully once everything is said and done the game will actually be good!

Playstation has been in massive decline since the days of Shu, Andrew House, Layden etc in many ways.

It feels like the current leadership are as bad at developer relations and communication as they are with their customer base and physint is an example of that fallout. The fallout and deteriorated goodwill from their userbase can be easily seen everywhere on the internet.

They really need a leadership reset like xbox did with Asha.

It would be interesting to know what the budget is under xbox. Apparently sony canceled it due to it already being over budget with years left of development.

It also sounds like it won't be an xbox exclusive as playstation would have only been able to secure timed exclusivity. Another reason sony aborted the project.

To me, it’s a bit irrelevant unless Xbox makes it a console exclusive (for at least several years, just like Sony does) and properly advertises it.

@somnambulance I’m still buying PS5 discs because by god I have a PS5 Pro and I’m gonna take advantage of it for now!

But my focus is definitely moving towards Switch 2 first and PS5 Pro when enhanced, or Series X otherwise (and if the S2 version is a GKC, of course).

We are unlikely to know the truth!

I wouldn't be surprised though if Sony wanted at least a year if not 2 or more years of Exclusivity and as such, probably felt that the budget and potential sales would not bring enough revenue in to justify that cost - especially not in the first few months or so. It could be 'years' before it becomes profitable 'enough' for them.

Microsoft may not be so bothered about a quick return and/or likely to make the game exclusive for as long so much more likely to see a return sooner. MS willing to sell on PS much sooner than Sony would for Xbox maybe opens up a bigger audience to buy.

Kojima himself too may have been reluctant to want his game locked away from gamers for as long as Sony were trying to dictate and maybe Kojima was charging Sony quite a fee for that length of time where as MS may not be wanting more than 6months (or maybe no Exclusivity at all) but as publisher will prefer to sell to as many gamers as possible Day 1 to maximise their Profitability instead of exclusivity. As Publisher, its their name on it too, PR for them and of course the marketing and promotion will be 'Xbox' focussed.

@dskatter I've owned every Playstation Generation and Xbox too, but this Generation has been the most 1 sided of them all in favour of playing on Xbox whilst my PS5 has been hardly used since launch and just for exclusives - which aren't as numerous anymore due to the massive jump in time its taken to make games.

Back in the PS3 era, Naughty Dog released 3 Uncharted Games -inc a full MP suite with the 2nd/3rd games as well as the Last of Us and its MP game yet since then, we've had Uncharted 4 and Last of Us 2 and no MP with LoU2. We also had the Resistance Trilogy, Killzone 2 & 3, Motorstorm Games, Infamous Games etc etc and now we are lucky if we get 1 or 2 games a year.

If I didn't own a PS5, I'd find it hard to justify buying one today. Whilst I know Xbox is 'similar' in a number of ways, its things like Play Anywhere so I don't need to buy the same game multiple times to play on my RoG Ally or PC. You also have better Backwards Compatibility going back to the OG Xbox where as PS5 only goes back 1 generation and numerous games charged '£10' to play the exact same game with the exact same content and exact same Game-play, story etc just boosted by newer hardware. Its like charging £10 extra because you have the X/Pro hardware that runs games at higher res/frame rate than base hardware.

I know Sony is cancelling their PC releases but I don't think I can justify spending £500+ on hardware and £60+ on PS+ Essential just to play 1 or 2 Exclusives a year - especially when those Exclusives seem to be more about the way they look than engaging 'game-play' and Story.

Each to their own of course, but I can't see myself buying a locked platform that also limits my games to that Platform. I expect MS to continue releasing their games as Play Anywhere games so I can play on Open PC platforms, play on Handhelds, tablets, laptops, desktops, console etc.

@Sindayl Judging by what Jason Schreier said, it seems like it's going to be Xbox exclusive

@BacklogBrad The game was announced in January 2024, so it’s not that old. And it’s not even developed by PlayStation — it’s Kojima Productions developing it, with financial support from PlayStation and now Xbox.

What’s surprising is that this reveals PlayStation’s strategy: putting less budget into AAA games. We can see it clearly with Wolverine, which is disappointing — it recycles the Spider‑Man engine, reuses certain assets and mechanics, and ends up being very linear, with shallow gameplay and little creativity (apart from producing nice cinematics).

At the same time, they persist with live‑service titles like Horizon Hunters Gathering, which nobody cares about, or Marathon, which is struggling to survive. The cancellation of Physint is quite symptomatic of PlayStation’s future, in my opinion.

And yes, PlayStation struggles to understand that Kojima (and almost all third‑party publishers, really) no longer want to make exclusives — at least not long‑term. They don’t get that it’s financially unsustainable for third‑party publishers if they can’t release their games across all platforms.

On Xbox, Physint will be a timed exclusive for a year at most. But the value of the Xbox ecosystem doesn’t lie only in exclusive content — it’s also in exclusive services: Xbox Play Anywhere, Disc‑to‑Digital, Game Pass, free cloud saves (which PlayStation charges for), and an environment open to PC (Helix), etc. Rather than a closed, archaic digital ecosystem like PlayStation’s.

console war has changed into corporate wars

Yoshida...

Irrespective of where you plant your flag, he was quite the righteous dude, wasn't he?

@somnambulance Interesting the effects one company’s horrible decisions can have on your purchasing habits, isn’t it?

Sony has made me VERY aware of how ephemeral all this is.

@fatpunkslim I think the linear limitations of Wolverine are have more to do with the character and source material than budget. They cant really have wolverine web slinging across an open world map like spiderman or jet packing like iron man. What are the other options, drive cars? It had to be a linear, cut-scene heavy game.

I doubt this Kojima game was announced day 1 of development. It was likely in the works for awhile before that date, probably at least a year or two. Kojima likes to hype the games up for years before release but they should not have announced this game yet. It still might not see the light of day judging by how development is going so far.

@dskatter literally put my ps5 pro in the basement. Was planning to pull it off for Wolverine but not anymore. Maybe for GTA 6 if there will be a dedicated patch.
And will probably buy xbox discs going forward lol - best of 2 worlds.

We miss Yoshida and old sony of late ps3-early ps4 era. Current management is just awful.
Unfortunately, they already "won" this generation and GTA 6 will carry them all the way into next several years so they dont need to do anything.
I would rather be with xbox if they show they still want to fight for the consumer - which Asha clearly showcases all the time since she got in but lets see if it lasts

@BacklogBrad I wonder if Kodjima carried the progress they made to xbox - if he did then it will be less funding for MS - basically enough to finish the project.

@Sindayl it is relevant because at the very least it will not be a sony exclusive for many years like DS1 or 2. I think being able to play it day 1 is already a W.
Ultimately if its not exclusive, sure Sony will get their 30% anyways.

@dskatter @somnambulance I am planning on buying more physcial S2 and SX discs and making both my main platforms - xbox for those big games and S2 for indies/exclusives.

Not sure I am interested in any Sony exclusive except intergalactic (which I have now a lot of doubts) and GOW trilogy remake. Good thing is both will be on ps5 anyways such as most exclusvies past 2028 (as likely PS6 high price will dictate longer cross-gen period with ps5) so there might not be a reason to get a PS6 for a very long while.

@Millionski good point!

@dskatter honestly it just sounds like you're very reactionary (which is fine). Personally I will assess my options when I'm ready to upgrade, no real reason to make that decision now.

@RTGX yes Yoshida was a dude and Sony have literally been in decline since he left.

He nurtured relationships, signed games and had complete respect from developers and gamers.

@Questionable_Duck it can’t be Xbox exclusive. One of the reasons Playstation gave it the boot was because Playstation wanted exclusivity.

@Sindayl

“It’s a bit irrelevant unless Xbox makes it a console exclusive (for at least several years, just like Sony does) and properly advertises it.”

1000% THIS!