// KOTAKU — GAMING
The Internet Reacts To PlayStation Breaking Up With Hideo Kojima
PlayStation helped Hideo Kojima reveal his next stealth action game Physint in January 2024. In June, it decided to cancel the project. Then Xbox swooped in to take over as the publisher. It might be the most unexpected thing to happen in gaming this year, and it’s the latest PR stumble by Sony at a time when the online vibes were already pretty terrible for the PS5 maker.
No one is necessarily looking their best in this situation. How much was Kojima being Kojima— putting his “genre-defining” creative ambition above all else–that even his long-time publishing partner got cold feet? And Xbox, the unlikely savior in this situation, is bringing Physint into its publishing fold when belief in the platform and Microsoft’s commitment to it has never faced more scrutiny. How many of those 3,200 layoffs were to pay for Kojima’s next game after Death Stranding 2?
But Sony, well, nobody comes out of this looking worse. To walk away from the creator of Metal Gear Solid, one of the few battle-hardened visionaries still left in the field trying to push the blockbuster game design envelope all these years later, and let your ailing rival come in to save the day is certainly a choice. People are shocked:
A COMPANY *bang bang* A BETRAYAL *bang bang* AN AUTEUR *bang bang* A FUMBLE *bang bang* pic.twitter.com/ZL7FZUXZ73
PlayStation got the metal gear guy so he could make them a spiritual successor to metal gear, and then got rid of him when he started making a spiritual successor to metal gear. Masterful gambit
i know after having his loyalty betrayed big boss took money from war criminals to fund his dream but this is a bit on the nose
— headfallsoff (@headfallsoff.com) 2026-09-10T03:15:04.195747Z
— Junch (@junchgaming.bsky.social) 2026-09-10T03:27:49.744Z
Hideo Kojima wants to come back to the stealth action genre. The guy who created METAL GEAR SOLID wants to return to the genre
Sony responds by cancelling the game and letting their dying competitor Kirk them by picking it up for distribution. Ape Escape monkeys are running Sony pic.twitter.com/ka5UjFfiVE