Hideo Kojima has been speaking more about PHYSINT over the weekend — the game that has switched publishers from PlayStation to Xbox — revealing additional details about what's been going on behind the scenes.

In his interview with IGN, Kojima discussed a bunch of topics including how the game's engine hasn't been decided yet, how Xbox is interested in the IP of PHYSINT rather than just funding one single title ("they're thinking about movies and anime"), and how he's still "experimenting" with many aspects of what PHYSINT is going to become.

Here's a bit of what he said about the "common vision" with Xbox:

"The biggest thing was, they're 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. I haven't talked to them specifically, but Nintendo is doing something similar for Mario and Zelda with movies, attractions, and things like that. But I think that's how Xbox sees it as well."

He also clarified that he's not sure whether it'll end up being an Xbox exclusive or not:

"I don’t know the answer to that – that would be a question for Xbox. But I don't know for sure. In previous updates from Xbox, I thought that they have this kind of stance where they want to deliver to as many gamers as possible, no matter what the platform is. I think all of that will be announced at a later time. I'm not sure yet, and I can't really say."

A lot of the interview is dedicated to Kojima's experience with PlayStation choosing to drop PHYSINT, mentioning that he was told about it in June and he was "in shock" at the time, but Xbox responded really positively to his pitch.

"They said they can no longer fund development for Physint. I was shocked and I said, "What did you say?" I couldn’t quite process what they had said. I wasn’t sure because I was in shock. Anyway, I know there's a lot of news in the game industry that many studios are closing down, many titles are canceled, and I understand the situation in the industry as a whole. But I thought Physint was okay. That Physint was safe. So I was surprised. But not just surprised. We didn’t understand the reason. I didn't have any anger or sadness; my first thought was, “What am I going to do with my studio?” Because we signed contracts for projects."

"I approached Xbox and they were great. They could support us technically. And also we've been working on OD with them, so we already had a connection. I made a proper pitch of PHYSINT to them. And then their first reaction was like, "This pitch was fantastic. Never seen a pitch like this!" And that's how it started with Xbox."

There's a whole lot more to read in the full IGN interview if you're interested, but our main takeaway for now is that it sounds like PHYSINT has a long way to go yet, so don't go expecting a release anytime soon. Kojima clearly believes in the project and feels it's one of the most important things he's worked on, but it's still in an experimental stage.

As for the exclusivity thing, it's no surprise that Kojima isn't sure whether it'll be an Xbox exclusive or not, and we assume even Microsoft doesn't know right now. Plans can change considerably over multiple years (just look at what's happened since Asha Sharma joined Xbox in early 2026!), so who knows where we'll be by the time it releases.

Before we go, we'll leave you with a statement that Kojima Productions shared on social media yesterday in regards to what the company is calling "unsubstantiated speculation" doing the rounds online regarding PHYSINT and other matters. It appears this is referring to an article that was published by Bloomberg's Jason Schreier back on September 11th, and he's also responded with a comment of his own that you can read down below.

"You may have seen a recent article that mentions KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS, speculating on the reasons for the change in publishing partners for PHYSINT.

Normally, we would not comment on unsubstantiated speculation on the internet, but these aspersions around our relationship with PlayStation, the commercial performance of the DEATH STRANDING franchise, and the broader production planning and investment for PHYSINT, have reached beyond the studio and have touched our fans, our creative partners, and colleagues we have worked alongside with for three decades.

None of the claims written came from any official or on-the-record source and as such we encourage you to take them with a dose of scepticism.

Make no mistake, this was a serious situation for the studio with a range of potentially significant implications. 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."

Any thoughts on this? Should PHYSINT be an Xbox exclusive? Tell us in the comments down below.