After the shocking announcement of PlayStation pulling out of publishing Kojima Productions’ Physint, Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier reports what many suspected. According to “people familiar with the project,” the espionage action title was allegedly on track to be “well over budget,” even with its release still years off.
Furthermore, it apparently already missed deadlines. Given the sales of Death Stranding 1 and 2 (which reportedly failed to meet revenue expectations), PlayStation wasn’t keen to invest what could have been “hundreds of millions” into Physint. However, there’s apparently another factor at play: Exclusivity.
Over the past several months, PlayStation has stopped releasing its major single-player titles on PC, allegedly because of lackluster sales and potential brand damage. Since the Death Stranding games have been “timed” exclusives that later launched for PC (and in the first game’s case, Xbox), PlayStation probably didn’t want to pour so many resources into an IP it didn’t own.
Despite its decision, Physint isn’t dead by any means, as Kojima Productions secured a publishing deal with Xbox, which it’s also working on OD with. Director Hideo Kojima noted PlayStation originally planned to cancel the project back in mid-June.
While development is still ongoing, we’re yet to see any gameplay or much about the premise and story. Stay tuned for updates in the meantime.
