r/gaming • u/RobloxSpiderGoku • 1d ago
PlayStation Ditched Hideo Kojima’s ‘Physint’ on Budget Concerns, Missed Deadlines
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-09-11/hideo-kojima-s-physint-video-game-dropped-by-playstation-goes-to-xbox?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc4OTEzMzY2NSwiZXhwIjoxNzg5NzM4NDY1LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUTDdDOVdLSVVQVEIwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJCMUVBQkI5NjQ2QUM0REZFQTJBRkI4MjI1MzgyQTJFQSJ9.fyrTke3aUIkJk3LwiBfR7JiNr0phfE51dlEql1RcXZ4725
u/EducationalDust7858 1d ago
Konami getting Vietnam flashbacks reading this
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u/Malrottian 16h ago
I see them going "SEE?!? We're not the ONLY ones that do it!! . . . Please buy our bare minimum effort remasters."
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u/WholesomeDucky 11h ago
While you're absolutely right, I think it's worth pointing out that not all their remasters are bare minimum effort. MGS4 is actually pretty damn well done, especially considering the platform it came from, and they've gone to a lot of effort to retain all the licensed content they can for all the mgs games and make sure all the original "puzzles" can still be completed in their intended way. Even if it's sometimes worse than just emulating, it's clear they did at least try.
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u/El_Cance_R 1d ago
Guys....I'm starting to think that Kojima has a problem with budgets and deadlines....
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u/Free_Ice6167 22h ago
He’s the George Lucas of gaming but at least George Lucas usually only set his OWN money on fire
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u/AndrewLocksmith PC 1d ago
That has to be his biggest issue as a game dev.
I genuinely don't get his obsession with Hollywood actors and how he considera them to be above VA? That has to play a big part when it comes to the budget.
He makes fun/weird games, but I also feel like his ego gets in the way too much.
I'm curios to see the cast for Physint. Wouldn't be surprised to see Robert Pattinson as the main character, lmao.
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u/RIPN1995 1d ago
David Hayter has gone on record to say that he would not like to work with him again after his replacement in MGS V. He respects his vision but they do not have a relationship.
Likewise Stefanie Joosten was ghosted by Kojima after offering her a role in what would be Death Stranding.
The man has a habit of burning bridges.
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u/stupid_systemus 22h ago
Hayter had to re-audition for snake on Snake Eater and MGS4. Kojima was dead set on hiring Kurt Russell or some other big name Hollywood actor.
Once Kojima became an executive and vice president, he mishandled the budget and MGS5 was in development hell. He got Kiefer Sutherland, replacing David Hayter.
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u/B3CT 21h ago
and then Snake has like 30 lines in TPP. Sutherland's voice fits but there's so little it actually hurts... like a... a phantom pain...
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u/PerfectZeong 21h ago
He talks more in the tapes section than he does in the game which is wild given most people arent really going to play that part
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u/Random-Generation86 21h ago
That's because the entire story of the game is in the tapes.
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u/PerfectZeong 20h ago
That to me feels like a bad decision lol
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u/GalcticPepsi 20h ago
Wait, you didn't like listening to Kazuhira Miller talk about the ultimate fast food hamburger?
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u/Perpetualshades 19h ago
I get the vibe that you’re being sarcastic, but those tapes were great.
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u/54580 20h ago
At first I thought it might make sense for plot reasons that the voice isn't exactly the same during the game, but you'd still hear Hayter at the end or something. But no, it's just Kojima's weird fetish for celebrities.
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u/river_rat3117 19h ago
Yeah I was waiting for the end too. Like surely Hayter will be at the end right? They were just playing us all, but nope.
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u/TacoRising X-Box 17h ago
Yeah, we were played like some sort of... stringed instrument or something.
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u/MadCarcinus 21h ago
And Kurt turned Kojima down, rightfully so: https://youtu.be/eq9KheHDTkk?is=xIqyoPCu8-koIKCT
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u/ConfessingToSins 20h ago
There's also been rumors for years that this pissed kojima off really really badly and he threw a tantrum about it.
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u/MadCarcinus 19h ago
Hahahahaha, even as someone who loves his games, he deserves that. He’s copied so much stuff and put it into his games. I get it, he likes the stuff he copies, it’s a love letter to it, but if you ask the sources you took from to participate, well, you’re risking a lawsuit. He’s lucky Carpenter likes his stuff and declined to pursue legal action.
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u/CzarTyr 21h ago
David hayer will always be snake but Sutherland did a good job
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u/DarkMatterM4 21h ago
For the five lines that he had to act out and mocap, I agree. All the cassette types he likely just read over the phone.
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u/RIPN1995 20h ago
When Sutherland got a good script he made the best out of it.
But you can clearly see where shortcuts were taken. That jeep ride...holy fuck.
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u/kmone1116 23h ago
Wild that he burns them after spending millions on games about building them.
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u/cat_prophecy 22h ago
They keep letting him get away with it so there is little reason for him to stop. People already worship him so they'll buy his games even if they're shit.
Personally I think he is extremely overrated as a director and writer. His story lines are convoluted at best, and incomprehensible most of the time. His design eye is great though and I usually like the game play. The stories are just...whatever.
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u/Mr_Piddles 20h ago
He's a fantastic game designer. But he's not a good writer or director, but because he was one of the first people to make "cinematic" games, he's been given carte blanche when he really needs some people to reign in his bad habits.
I always think about how MGS1 has such a strong voice and script because one guy shut himself in a cabin with Tom Clancy novels and single handedly localized the script. Kojima was so pissed about it that he refused to ever allow something like that ever again.
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u/brycerx128 21h ago
He wasn’t always this bad but it’s obvious his ego has gone to his head.
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u/Swineflew1 19h ago
"You'll feel ashamed of your words and deeds when you realize why Quiet needs to be practically naked"
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u/mascotte_sa 21h ago
I thought it was crazy that Kojima and Hayter never even met each other. Not even once. I might be talking out of my ass, but I'm pretty sure I remember listening to an interview with David and that's what he was saying.
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u/RIPN1995 20h ago
They met only a handful of times, but it was briefly. Hayter said himself that he has no relationship with him.
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u/kardon16 20h ago
He sees people as disposable. Which is a narcissistic trait. Just like putting your name on everything.
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u/sol-solis 23h ago
He’s video game famous, but he clearly wishes he was Hollywood famous and casting Hollywood talent makes him feel like the closest to a movie director as he can get
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u/Neversoft4long 22h ago
Honestly that’s probably it. The way he reviews movies you can kinda tell he really wants to make one. Which honestly I don’t see why he hasn’t gotten the green light to make one yet
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u/Notchedspecimen 21h ago
His story telling sucks that's why
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u/squangus007 20h ago
The most interesting stories were definitely when he wasn’t fully in charge. MGS1 and 2 had really interesting moments that were never brought back because the co-writer got replaced in mgs4.
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u/GeneralNonsence 21h ago
I could see him making a SERIES, but I have yet to see him put together something concise and satisfying like a movie script should be.
MAYBE MGS3, but it’s still just a weird ass game.
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u/Notchedspecimen 21h ago edited 1h ago
After MGS V I started seeing how much of his story telling wasn't great at all. Then he got some weird man crush on Norman reedus and just made me stop playing his games.
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u/oliveberry4now 11h ago
This game is suppose to be his movie. Its legit suppose to be more movie than game. Idk why he just doesnt wait, Xbox doesnt have the experience or qualifications to pull his vision off. Sony literally has experience with actors , effective use of mocapp, and even has Sony Pictures. With Xbox hes gonna get a Starfield replica and theyll probably need to cut a thousand jobs just to budget this.
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u/TheRipePunani 20h ago
That's pretty obvious, he's a cinema lover through and through. He posts about movies he enjoys and was pretty interesting to watch when he did his Criterion Closet video.
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u/T8-TR 1d ago
I heard someone say that while Konami were dicks, they were also the only people that sorta grounded Kojima, and I kinda agree.
Ever since MGS5, Kojima has been kinda weird. I love his games, and MGSV is arguably one of my favourite stealth games, but it's undeniable that his work has focused far more on getting big star power since then.
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u/Raven-19x 23h ago
Even MGS5 suffered from not being fully finished story wise. Kojima goes overboard with his budget/timeline expectations.
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u/LRCrane 22h ago
Tomokazu Fukushima is the man whose role gets understated. He was the person who grounded Kojima's writing in the original MGS games.
I also think Portable Ops has the best script in the MGS series even if the gameplay was poor. Hayter, a professional screenwriter, agrees about the script. The writing for that featured little-to-no Kojima other than just some concepts.
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u/squangus007 20h ago
Yeah, the co-writer fixed a lot of issues with Kojima’s story. There was a lot of research put into it, and he added things that made more sense. Kojima tends to make a huge story but very surface level and unfocused- also like a huge amount of codec stuff was written by the co-writer in the mgs games before 4. The codecs were amazing back in the day and MGSV tapes are probably the worst change in that regard.
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u/PigBoss_207 22h ago
Kojima has always wanted to be a Hollywood director, and everything he does and makes starts to make sense when you realize that.
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u/Amarules 23h ago
Totally. Like dude if you want to make movies, just go make movies.
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u/Jackalodeath 22h ago
I'm likely talking out my arse, but think the problem with him making movies is with games, when the gameplay is good enough, you can more or less hold your audience hostage for the story you want to tell.
There's a reason his cutscenes are notoriously many and lengthy.
If one gets hooked on playing it they're more likely to sit through ~3 hours worth of exposition, ~2 hours world building, then a ~1 hour climax.
Put that in a theater though, not a lot of folks are gonna pay to sit there for a ~6 hour movie with that sort of pacing.
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u/4handzmp 1d ago
I’m sure it’s no different than other highly successful people. He feels like an untouchable rockstar who can do what he feels like doing.
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u/beefjesus69 23h ago
Kojima clearly loves attention and being a celebrity and hanging out with celebrities. His fans eat it up for some reason, but I always felt it's a bit cringe.
Meanwhile, we never see Sam Houser (for example) who's games are infinitely more successful both commercially and critically.
I actually respect Sam's approach much more, he doesn't want to take spotlight away from the thousands of developers working on the game. You always only ever see "Rockstar Games Presents" and the R* logo. Never "A SAM HOUSER GAME" above the title of the game in the marketing.
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u/peanutbuttahcups 22h ago
IIRC, Kojima started plastering his name with MGSV after he knew he was getting shitcanned.
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u/prosound2000 21h ago
Yes, and Rockstar has a tendency to AVOID big names after Vice City. This works well because it treats video games differently than film, which it most definitely is. Don't believe me? Try to find a film that does a good job with a gaming IP that isn't a cartoon. It's rare if any.
If anything, it works more like filmed skits, episodic television or even stage plays while film relies heavily on directing and editing.
Also, having smaller actors means that you give more actors a chance, and it works out. There are plenty of voice actors who are making an incredible living strictly in the game space, who'd likely struggle if they had to compete against Brad Pitt or any established celebrity.
Troy Baker, Nolan North and Ellen McLain (who's opera skills were incorporated into Portal) were magic in a way that doesn't translate into film in the same way. While they don't get paid the same way film celebrities do, they do have income from the festival circuit that still pays them decades down the road.
Stop treating video games like movies you play. They can be cinematic, they can be immersive, those aren't qualites that films have a monopoly over. They are a different medium so you can use similiar techniques, but don't confuse the two as the same.
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u/beefjesus69 20h ago
You’re speaking absolute facts. At this point I don’t even understand why games would want to try to be like Hollywood or the film medium in general.
The video game medium is a behemoth that generates more money than both film and music put together. GTA is going to (once again) destroy every revenue record in the entire entertainment industry when VI comes out, just like V did in 2013.
It makes perfect sense that Rockstar takes the approach that they take and DONT use some A-list Hollywood actors for their main characters VA, likeness and motion capture. They are more likely to parody celebrity culture than simp for it, as is their way.
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u/Levoire 23h ago
Genuine question: Does Sam do most of the story, characters, scenario etc? I know Kojima does so that’s why he sticks his name on everything maybe.
I’d prefer he uses actual VA rather than celebrities. There’s very few decent celebrity VA out there (David Tennant is very good and I think Benedict Cumberbatch has range) yet there’s fantastic people that are solely in the business.
The first time I ever heard Jennifer Hale was Naomi Hunter in the first MGS. She’s basically the queen of VA.
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u/beefjesus69 23h ago
We don't know how much of the creative vision comes from Sam, or used to come from his brother Dan but they have publicly addressed why they don't care to be celebrities or do what Kojima does all the time. And I really like it and prefer that approach.
"It’s just easier to focus on the work when you’re not focusing on yourself... The company is bigger than any individual. It feels wrong to take credit for something that hundreds of people spent years building." - Dan Houser
Massive AAA game development is the work of hundreds and sometimes thousands of very talented, hardworking people. Even if Kojima has creative control of the story, characters and scenario he can't do those type of massive games himself. There are no doubt extremely talented and creative individuals at KP who contribute massively toward the creative direction of those games.
Perhaps his approach of being a celebrity and presenting these games as "A HIDEO KOJIMA GAME" works for him. But clearly it's not as effective as he wants it to be...
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u/bigbear1293 22h ago
Honestly it's kinda funny but I honestly think Kojima might want to look to Remedy Entertainment and Sam Lake for inspiration on how he should work!
Sam is a public figure and is the main person you think of with that studio, he uses his celebrity connection to get amazing celebrities to work on their games (Poets of the Fall is a world famous band and does music for all the games now, along with the celebrity actors they've gotten before), the stories are mind bending in a way Kojima would probably enjoy! Hell we know he enjoys their games because HE WAS IN ONE OF THEM as someone with some decent lore and we know his life long dream is to be a director and with Alan Wake 2 they nailed a mixture of live action (which kojima would live to do) and gameplay!
Yeah they're lower budget than his usual tastes but Remedy has a quiet confidence in themselves that I think Kojima could learn to copy, they may not make all the money straight away but they know they make good games and they (eventually) make decent money
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u/beefjesus69 22h ago
You're absolutely right, and I adore Remedy games.
While I don't think any major studio needs a public face and I also don't see much value in big name celebrities appearing in video games, Remedy's approach to all of this is still a lot better than Kojimas.
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u/Dantai 23h ago
He can't. I mean he's supposed to be THE cinematic game maker of our time.
But so many other games have surpassed his bar for the cinematic style. I'm talking writing, choreography, camera work, acting work, story, pacing, etc. Rockstar, Naughty Dog, even the Modern Warfare reboot was cinematic as fuck without weird pacing/writing/story issues.
I hope PHYSINT is good. But Kojima needs to update the fuck out of his storytelling and pacing style. Because it's fucked. Yes I loved the music and cinematic camera work of the ending of Death Stranding 2 when they were in the cocoon being carried over to the soldier guy.
It was absolutely beautiful and moving. Seriously. But pacing pacing pacing. We only got the cool cutscenes at the very end of a odd ball slog?
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u/TheSlayerofSnails 1d ago
He also seems to treat his long term va’s or mocap artists poorly. He threw away David Hayter to get a movie star to voice snake, and then he promised and cast Stefanie Joosten the role of Fragile only to ghost her when he got another movie star for the role and didn’t even tell her he replaced her.
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u/Marakajin 23h ago
It's weird, because that's almost exclusively towards the American talent, he has always been pretty tight with the Japanese staff and contributors. I think he might actually look down on his own games' western releases, when they don't involve at least one big, recognizable name.
Like, he didn't just throw Hayter under the bus to get a movie star for Snake, Hayter had to re-audition for Snake *in every single game* and he tried to replace him at least as far back as MGS3 (with Kurt Russell, no less).
I admire the man and I think in certain things he gets more shit than he deserves, but this one thing is absolutely inexcusable.
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u/Icy_Indication_5563 23h ago
Okay that's just ridiculous, I've never heard of that before but that'd never be accepted behavior with JP voice actors, him pulling it on Hayter is just sad.
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u/Legendver2 22h ago
tried to replace him at least as far back as MGS3 (with Kurt Russell, no less).
Man trying to fancast his own game, lmao
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u/Fiddlerblue 22h ago
From what I’ve heard, he never liked David Hayter but was overruled by Konami. Supposedly, the feeling was mutual.
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u/Molton0251 1d ago
It doesent help he has alot of people praising him like a god for anything he does.
Im also not a fan of hollywood actors in games, because I dont see the character, I see the actor, and is harder for me to get involved in the story.
I love death stranding and cyberpunk, but im not seeing Sam Porter Bridges or Johnny Silverhand, im seeing Norman Reedus and Keanu Reeves, if that makes sense.
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u/Dantai 23h ago
Yeah it's not needed anymore!
Michael Franklin and Tevors actors are a big example. Absolute unknowns who fucking killed it, and are loved by fans today. Like a fuck ton. I'm honestly surprised I haven't seen them on other games, or haven't noticed.
I definitely noticed Steven Off though showing up in my favorite TV shows though! Better Call Saul, Westworld etc. I was like oh shit.
Better Call Saul has 2 actors who had a big role in a game too. It's crazy
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u/Icy_Indication_5563 23h ago
Michael Mando was great in BCS, love all that he brought to Nacho there. I do wish across the board in VA and acting that unknowns were utilized more, but unfortunately the names sell games/tickets and they hire them for a reason.
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u/xanas263 23h ago
I genuinely don't get his obsession with Hollywood actors and how he considera them to be above VA?
If you read up on Kojima you will very quickly discover that his real passion is movies and that he originally wanted to work in the film industry, he just happened to fall into the games industry instead.
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u/ArmedWithBars 22h ago
It's because Kojima was a cinephile long before he's was a game dev. All of his games draw heavy inspiration from Hollywood. For example Snake is basically Kojima's version of Snake Plissken from Escape from NY. It's why you see extremely long cutscenes in his games that use established cinematography techniques. He basically makes his own movies within his games.
Kojima's works oozes inspiration from 60s-80s Hollywood movies. So many references if you look hard enough. This is why he seems so obsessed with bringing in Hollywood actors into his games.
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u/boat02 17h ago
From his Wikipedia page:
His parents were passionate about cinema—especially European films, horror, and Wild West—and began a nightly tradition of watching a film with their children, who were not allowed to go to bed until the film had finished; his parents also did not limit the type of films the children were allowed to see, regardless of content.
The Paramedic in MGS3 was basically an outlet for Kojima to share movies.
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u/CDHmajora Switch 23h ago edited 23h ago
It does. He’s always been an egotistical prick who keeps relying on other companies money to fulfil his own desires to join the Hollywood class.
He wasted shitloads of Konami’s money on MGS V after failing to do so with MGS 3 (he tried to fuck off David Hayter for Kurt Russell but Kurt wasn’t interested). Is wasting shitloads of Sony’s money for death stranding’s hollywood cast (which really wasn’t needed tbh. None of the characters needed to be such A listers). Probably wanted to do it again for this and Sony has said no. But it’s fine though because Microsoft will pay the bill instead (despite just putting thousands of their developers out of work).
Sony is a company like any other, who deserves a lot of the recent hate they have gotten for shit business decisions. But refusing to stroke the ego of Kojima and fund his passion projects with little in the way of monetary return isn’t a bad business decision. They ain’t gonna piss away money because one of their contractors has an ego.
Kojima has some funny ideas. But he isn’t the fucking Jesus of gaming. His products aren’t as popular commercially as Reddit’s eco chamber claims they are and Sony have the sales data to prove that.
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u/Legendver2 22h ago
I'll never forgive him for not being able to finish MGSV because he ballooned the budget for whatever reason. The final MGS game is an unfinished product because of the dude's ego. Such a travesty.
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u/Darkstriss 1d ago
Well from what I've seen, he's a gigantic movie buff. This is what I guess he always wanted to do. Be a director and higher the big actors he's always wanted to work with.
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u/ProfessorOki 1d ago
I love Kojo, I love his games. But it's obvious hes happy to drain whoever pays for them, to make the best game possible. I also love him for that. But im not backrolling them. 😄
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u/The_Narz 1d ago
I’m having this talk with my buddy right now who is a huge Kojima fanboy.
Like, yes, the guy is an auteur and legend in the industry, but he’s proven to be a shitty business partner, and those two things don’t need to be mutually exclusive.
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u/Narukami_7 1d ago
I will always die on the hill that Kojima is at his best when he is on a tight leash. His last games take too long, go WAY overbudget unnecessarily (see mgsv and how he blew so much money on licensed songs that were never used) and nowadays he’s all about including (and hanging out with) celebrities
There’s some degree of blame on the man too, let’s be honest
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u/uncen5ored 1d ago
Kojima’s games going open world, despite the fun gameplay, have been his biggest curse imo.
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u/Narukami_7 23h ago
Biggest red flag for me was when, during the final phase of development for mgsv, he said he was “jealous” of GTAV’s scope. The way he also mentioned he would like his game to be played in “episodes” and that people would be able to sit and play a quick mission for 30 minutes… that never sat right with me
But yeah. Going open world was never a good thing. His best work is when things are linear and he can focus on good level design and bosses, ESPECIALLY boses
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u/Legendver2 21h ago
That whole episodic thing rubbed me the wrong way with MGSV. Every main mission that starts has a whole opening credits thing with Kojima's name front and center everywhere. It was fine the first few times, but then you realize bro has a big ego after the 3rd time you see it.
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u/Narukami_7 19h ago
I didn’t mind him being there. I did mind, however, that he spoils everyone that shows up before the mission even begins
“Starring the skull unit, skull face, liquid and the man on fire” brother what the fuck why would you spoil the surprise
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u/Mobile_Emergency5059 22h ago
Yet when I bring him how, fun as his games might be, are extremely over blown on budget and he needs some level of feedback control, everyone vehemently disagreed and Sony was making a terrible choice, clearly Xbox picking up kojima was going to be the difference and it was greedy sony all along.
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u/WillyTRibbs 1d ago
So basically all the same problems he's had for almost 20 years.
I've loved all Kojima's games as a player, but I think technology reaching a point where he's effectively unconstrained on all the things he could do has ultimately been bad. The goal is make a great game, but you have to do it while keeping scope and expenses somewhat contained.
If his lean was making more multi-player games where costs could get recouped, you could justify higher budgets and larger scope more easily, but these kinds of budgets and development timelines for what are predominantly single player games - on a single platform, no less - just don't work.
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u/jessieS1212 1d ago
Maybe stop hiring Hollywood actors for games that fail to break even.
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u/mascotte_sa 1d ago
I really don't understand the trend of putting famous actors in videogames. It goes conpletely against what the medium is great at. You can have fully original characters that don't break your immersion with their famous faces.
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u/jessieS1212 1d ago edited 1d ago
Built-in marketing reach. They bank on bringing in a broader audience simply because people see their favorite actor attached.
I’m with you on this, though, I hate seeing famous actors in games.
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u/Odd_Needleworker3756 1d ago
It didn’t even work though since Death Stranding 2 was a financial disappointment
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u/tpolakov1 21h ago
In this case, that might just be a Kojima thing. He always had the reverse-weeb thing going for his games where he was styling them to the superficial American image. If you want the vibe of a Hollywood movie, hiring Hollywood actors is understandable, even if ill-advised.
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u/General_Sky_8560 13h ago
I've said this around when Death Stranding 2 was announced. It feels like Kojima doesn't make games to tell stories or even to make games. It feels like he does it to hang out with celebrities he likes.
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u/Demonchaser27 21h ago
Yeah... looking at how long cutscenes were in his last few games (starting with MGS2, honestly, but it really got bad around MGS4), and they often just say... nothing, or just repeat shit they've said 10 times over. He has a real issue with bloat and it's never been addressed because a lot of people just let him get away with it.
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u/uncen5ored 1d ago
Great point on the technology being unconstrained. I still feel MGS1-4 are the tightest, best Kojima experiences…& then he went open world. While the gameplay was absolutely fun, the directing, pacing, stories, dialogue etc are not on the level of his OG games
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u/Seastorm14 1d ago
While this is definitely still a Sony L, im getting MGS5 and Konami flashbacks because this was the exact reasoning that led to their break-up during that game
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u/Dependabledog 1d ago
One of my favorite Giant Bomb bits was when Gerstman riffed that Konami fired Kojima after an executive walked in on him spending thousands of dollars to motion capture a houseplant. Which is probably not to far off from being true.
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u/LiterallyIAmPuck 1d ago
People like to blame the "bean counters" but sometimes they're right. You can't just have infinite budget and time. Eventually the game has to come out and earn a profit and while Kojima makes amazing games, they don't always return on their investment
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u/aphilipnamedfry 21h ago
So true when you're the financial person at company. It's their entire job to see the outlook for overspending.
Only caveat, at least for the Kojima and Konami situation, is that MGS was their flagship title. And it was still being run by the visionary that catapulted the franchise to a flagship title. I'd argue Konami had much more to think about than just the financials in the short term, especially in hindsight when you see how big a success MGSV (rightfully) became. Just look how long it's taken them to course correct MGS since that fight and the whole Pachinko episode.
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u/Mr_Piddles 20h ago
The counter point was that their mobile games were making several times more than MGSV was. The entire company was beginning to change gears, and Kojima overspending like he was didn't help his case.
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u/South_Buy_3175 1d ago
I don’t even think it was an L.
Kojima is in his twilight years and gives way less of a fuck. He doesn’t care about silly things like ‘budgets’ or ‘deadlines’ he just wants to mingle with celebrities and scan their feet.
If his games aren’t selling well to make up for his eccentricities then what’s the point?
I wager we’ll see this exact same scenario happening following OD’s release, with Xbox cutting ties & Kojima looking for another sugar-daddy.
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u/Afraid_Ad_6046 1d ago
This. Kojima is a household name and a legacy, but that's not enough to dump an infinite amount of funding into a project that may or may not make money. If Death Stranding sold better, maybe you can argue that his cost is worth it, but it did okay, which is not good enough considering the budget.
He caught lightning in a bottle with MGS, and now all of these big backers are just hoping he can do it again.
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u/Legendver2 22h ago
and now all of these big backers are just hoping he can do it again.
I think at some point, we gotta start admitting that it wasn't really Kojima but the IP itself, which he built up, that carried that series.
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u/South_Buy_3175 1d ago
Basically yeah.
If you look at the film industry you already have a rough idea of how things will go.
Even living legends like Francis Ford Coppola has to sell his own assets to fund his passion projects. Having a big name creator attached just isn’t as big of a draw nowadays.
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u/ArmedWithBars 22h ago
Death stranding gameplay choices were horrific for mainstream appeal. The average gamer doesn't want to play a delivery man simulator packaged in a Kojima acid trip movie. I'd argue half the reason the game didn't flop was because the first thought every non-Kojima fan had was "Oh shit it's Darryl from TWD". Kojima's name draw and Norman Reedus kept that thing afloat to break even.
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u/welzed11 1d ago
Yeah it was smart of Sony, they dumped a bunch of money on Death Stranding just for it to flop in sales then Phys int wants even more money and to miss deadlines
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u/TheWooko 23h ago
Not a Sony L at all lmao.
Kojima finally got what he deserves after screwing over so many original actors (David Hayter & etc). He replaced them with Hollywood actors, and burned his bridges with the old ones, because Hollywood is special to him. I love Kojima and Metal Gear but he needs to stop.
Xbox can handle his over inflated budgets just fine, they threw away 100 billion after all.
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u/Vorhoost 1d ago
Yes, people give Konami a lot of flack but forget it's a business. They have a budget and a deadline, AND they put their trust in someone to deliver on time. If that someone fails to deliver on time it could cause irreparable damage to the company. And Kojima is know to be pretty spoiled when it comes to deadlines and budget.
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u/whamorami 1d ago
I feel like there should be a balance. Kojima's games make money. He makes really good games. But does that give him the right to just spend as much as he wants? Riot was like this recently with two games that they were publishing, Hytale and 2XKO. Riot was completely hands off in their development and allowed their devs to work on them for as long as they want and to spend as much as they want. The end result is them shutting down Hytale for not releasing sooner and shutting down 2XKO for not being the success that they wanted it to after taking so long to develop. While I don't think Kojima would just take as long as those games have to develop his own games, it is something worth considering.
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u/skyper_mark 1d ago
kojima's games make money
I think that the problem is that they actually don't make THAT much money when compared to how much they cost
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u/Grapes-RotMG 1d ago
Death Stranding 2 definitely did NOT perform well.
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u/Sleepyjo2 22h ago
Depending on the report DS2 either barely broke even or lost money.
And this is after basically every review called it an overall improvement from the first game, which similarly didn’t do great.
The MGS stuff did fine for most of them but that has a relatively huge fan base that’s somewhat detached from Kojima himself.
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u/Dioroxic 1d ago
You can’t let people work on things indefinitely and unchecked. You gave the Riot example. Kojima does this. Want to know a huge and recent example?
All of the studios Phil Spencer bought over the last decade. He spent billions and billions of Xbox cash and never checked in on any studios and what happened? They made fucking nothing lol.
If it weren’t for deadlines, nothing would get done.
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u/deeman010 1d ago
Exactly which is why I roll my eyes whenever I see people comment on letting creatives do whatever they want. Sure they can.... on an individual level but we're talking about AAA studios here with dozens to hundreds of employees. You cant operate the same way a start-up does.
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u/TheBetterness 1d ago
As a creative mind, I couldnt agree more. Creativity sends you down rabbit holes you can't ignore. If you don't have someone to pull you out, you'll get lost in the sauce.
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u/Icy_Indication_5563 22h ago
Restrictions make art a lot better, but of course there's a balance since too little or too many isn't going to help. When it comes to games one of the easiest examples to give in favor of restrictions is feature creep, a problem a lot of newer developers can struggle with.
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u/uncle_big_head 1d ago
I would even say that on startups it's even more improtant to have deadlines and proper managers, I've worked on startups in the past that the creative ideas go beyond the deadlines, ended up loosing the biggest financial support of the project and killing the startup.
No matter the job, it needs a balance of creative and management.
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u/Crasher_7 1d ago
Redfall comes to mind. Phil Spencer did not check on it and it was released in a hot mess.
Shuhei Yoshida even mentioned that he shoved several studios ideas behind the scenes. Those that got shown at E3 usually have gone through multiple rounds of adjustments and pivoting.
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u/jonboi24 1d ago
It seemed Kojima's last two game didn't make enough money. Death Stranding was a very unique game. I feel like a lot of people bought it but didn't finish it and didn't bother with the sequel. That happened to me. I
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u/MrT-1000 1d ago
I think the other concern with these types of games, at least I as a consumer am asking, is this game a "purchase" or a "wait for it on PS+" and at this point I think more games are hitting that latter category
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u/Cowgirl_Taint 1d ago
Kojima's games make money
Time and time again we see... they don't.
I watched the video version of this from One Take Schreier and both Death Strandings underperformed with 1 mostly having its legs on PC (which Sony didn't get a cut from). And the MGS games were generally critical darlings that, sales wise, ranged from "okay" to "really good... if we hadn't been developing this for a decade".
Back when the MGS5 debacle happened, someone (I forget who) basically summed it up as: Kojima is the embodiment of THQ. AAA spending on games that make A sales figures.
And, for those of you who are too young to remember: THQ had a string of truly excellent games. And they went under because they were trying to make AA/AAA games that sold at B/A numbers.
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u/Seastorm14 1d ago
Yeah, I thought Sony learned that hands off approach was a double edged sword because Bungie was burning money like crazy with Destiny, and then everyone started calling Marathon "Concord 2" so there does need to be that creative balance with production balance because a lot of games go through development hell with directors that can't make up their mind on what to do with the game
E.g FF versus 13/ff15, Nomura kept thinking he could make the perfect game which led to scrapped ideas/assets, the game never had a progressive development until Hajime was forced to cook with the little scraps left to just finish something and he got the hate from both fans and Nomura because it didnt live up to the hopes people placed on it just because he had a set deadline (they were denied game delays past November 30, 2016, it was either release the broken game or kill it because investors had enough)
Kojima is a great game director, but he has the same flaws Nomura has with game development
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u/xlCalamity 23h ago
Kojima's games make money.
But that is part of the reason why Sony ditched him - Death Stranding didnt make money as most of the sales were at a discount and not on PC + DS2 underperformed. On the one hand of course you should invest in creatives who make interesting worlds like Kojima. But does he deserve a blank check to take 10 years to make a game that wont even sell? I doubt Physint is even shown for another 3 years if it isnt cancelled/rushed out the door.
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u/darkfall115 1d ago
Kojima needs a dude who'll say "no" from time to time, that's my takeaway from all this situation.
Death Stranding 2 should've been a big "no" from the start IMO. Dude, you made the same game twice. Arguably 3 times since it's very MGS5 reminiscent gameplay-wise.
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u/sahneeis 1d ago
apparently they make not enough money. but microsoft doesnt care since they need ip’s and partners long term
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u/Snapplestache 1d ago
But does that give him the right to just spend as much as he wants?
I mean, going by responses, he doesn't just have the right, his funders have the obligation to enable him to do so.
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u/Sweet_Peaches-69 22h ago
Sony L? They're preventing a much bigger L in the future when they sink hundreds of millions into a game that probably won't break even, and will deliver revenue to xbox. In terms of business this is a smart decision. Let Microsoft pick up Kojimas insane tab and itll probably still come to PS eventually
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u/KakarotAlter 1d ago
No it's not a Sony L. MFers just want everything around them to be hypernegative
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u/ergo_proxy21 21h ago
Aside from his insistence on using A-listers, theres also the massive costs that come from liscensed music that eats too much budgets iirc he asked konami for a licsensed song that costed huge amount and in the end didnt even used it in the game, mgs 5 i think it was
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u/Antergaton 17h ago
This would have been far easier to do with Sony tied to things due to Sony music, get music on the cheap but now they aren't involved, costs might go up. It's the same for the film and TV side of things, Sony's conections there would have helped move things forward, MS doesn't have those connections.
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u/KlausSlade 1d ago
How much could scanning a million feet cost?
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u/dumpling-loverr 15h ago
Looking back it's funny how gamers villified Konami for this. Now Sony did it too for the same reason and Microsoft may also do it in the future if Kojima keeps blowing the budget on big Hollywood stars and preference on a hands off approach that Microsoft already got burned with on doing the same strategy their previously acquired (now cut off) gaming studios.
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u/Snapplestache 1d ago
Oh look, it's what everyone who took the time to think about the matter for more than 5 seconds knew it was
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u/Uncertain_ProSlacker 20h ago
As much as I love, love (love) his games, I'm not surprised by this in the slightest. Kojima and his games are the exact AAA issue that the industry is struggling with and moving away from. He's one of the only people who could run a studio exclusively creating these types of games. I'd think the better business strategy would be to complement these massive projects with smaller games, possibly even spinoffs that could reuse some assets and be much cheaper to develop. Kinda in the same vain as what the Yakuza devs do.
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u/LordDeathkeeper 1d ago
Summary: Sony finds out that the guy with a history of making games overbudget and past deadline keeps making games that are overbudget and past deadline, and Death Stranding did not make Metal Gear money (which legitimately, who looked at Death Stranding and thought it was going to?)
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u/AttackBacon 23h ago
Kojima doesn't make sense if you want to make money efficiently. He makes sense if you want to raise your profile and grab headlines. He definitely makes more sense for Xbox than PlayStation right now, although the latter could use some positive buzz too.
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u/mex2005 19h ago
I dont think he makes sense for Xbox either, i guess they trying to buy some good will but it feels wuerd for them to close all these studios for costing too much money and not having enough sales and then working with Kojima lol
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u/theofanmam 1d ago
I'm not really as big of a fan of Kojima as nearly everyone else is since I didn't really have the chance to grow up with Metal Gear and what not.
While I agree that Sony sucks and deserves as many L's as possible, it's starting to sound like Kojima is one of those creatives that's kinda hard to work with. Maybe he needs someone to reign him in from time to time.
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u/Cantras0079 1d ago
I did grow up with Metal Gear and I’m still not a huge fan of his. It’s clear he’s closer to a George Lucas than people care to admit. George Lucas had creativity and cool ideas, but left unchecked, it’s a mess. Kojima is the similar. Of course his stuff is unique. He has interesting ideas but look no further than how he reacted when playtesters liked Death Stranding 2 too much. He went back and changed it to try and be more polarizing so it would have “less mainstream appeal”. Like…come on.
His desire to be avant garde is too much. And it’s clear this is a pattern. Konami cut ties with him over the same shit we’re hearing with Sony. He has an ego problem, and he needs people around him to say no, just like George Lucas did. Star Wars: A New Hope would’ve been an over 3 hour slog without brilliant editing from his then-wife Marcia Lucas and a dedicated team of editors + producer Gary Kurtz.
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u/avimo1904 14h ago
The saved in the edit thing is a debunked internet myth. Marcia actually fought to keep the deleted scenes in, so the movie would be longer if she got her way
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u/Cain_draws 1d ago
I've been saying this since the first time I played Death Stranding: Kojima really needs someone saying no to him every once in a while.
The guy has vision, the guy is creative, the guy can make extremely fun and memorable games, but left on his own, his self indulgence gets the best of him.
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u/TheStoictheVast 1d ago
My wife and I like to watch the game award shows/showcases and it has become a running tradition to guess if Kojima is going to make a grand appearance just to announce that he will have more announcements at some point in the next year.
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u/catfinity4 20h ago
When I watched him get up out of his chair and leave the game awards because he didn't win, I was done with him forever.
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u/squangus007 6h ago
I mean with age he became more grumpy and difficult to work with. He basically got a bit salty about the Backrooms’ idea creator because he got a film deal in his early twenties while Kojima never got anything when he released Metal Gear. I have no idea why he didn’t make a film studio or try directing an actual arthouse film… because he always seems to be itching to direct a film but is waiting to be reached out by some big studio.
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u/skeletank22 1d ago
Playstation ditched Kojima for the same reasons Konami did, and eventually at some point Xbox will do the same.
Kojima costs more than he makes and never adheres to deadlines....who knew?
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u/Scavenge101 1d ago
I mean, fuck Sony for being anti-consumer
But Kojima absolutely needs someone above his position managing budgets and time schedules. The dude can't produce a tomato let alone a video game. I love his imagination and his director style is really endearing but there's legit no reason DS and DS2 had the final budgets that they did beyond hiring superfluous amounts of hollywood talent and music production. It doesn't show that budget in the gameplay OR the visuals (as good as those games look).
If he had someone to forcibly focus the designs, minimize the high-end castings focusing on MAKING stars instead of just bringing 100% of them in from hollywood, and lessen the reliance on licensing music at least a little, the games would have been gangbusters at their current sales numbers.
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u/Dairunt 1d ago
As much as I love Kojima, there's a reason Kojima hasn't gone indie. It would be a financial black hole.
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u/bannedagainomg 20h ago
Star Citizen managed to dupe 1 billion from people.
I would imagine Kojima could survive for a long time on "fans" as a indie studio, wouldnt even have to release anything
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u/squangus007 7h ago
He probably should open a kickstarter and then we will get the same situation as Star Citizen … a game that’s in development limbo for decades and has incredibly asinine creative decisions that don’t improve the gameplay.
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u/PitifulPiccolo3010 1d ago
You mean to tell me Elle Fanning isn’t selling video games!?
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u/d4videnk0 1d ago
Nah but Hideo got to see her feet, which was his main goal when doing the sequel.
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u/johnsweber 1d ago
Agreed, I can’t blame Sony for being able to use a spreadsheet and calendar properly. I’ve always thought of Kojima as Game Artist than a business manager, he really needs someone above him than can funnel his dreams into business plans.
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u/Candid_Treacle_2102 1d ago
It often seems to me like Kojima himself doesn’t realize that he would rather want to make movies or tv shows instead of video games with the way his last games we’re structured and produced
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u/South_Buy_3175 1d ago
All the budget was eaten by inventing new feet scanning technology.
You may not appreciate it, but Kojima certainly does with his collection of meticulously sculpted silicone celebrity feet in his sole vault.
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u/GooseSl4yer2003 1d ago
I understand people’s frustration but honestly, considering Death Stranding 2 didn’t sell as well as the first game and Kojima is currently working on OD which is still years away without a proper release window.
It’s not surprising Sony didn’t felt it was worth investing this early for a project that is still barely in production and probably won’t be getting properly started until OD is finally out.
And at least it also seems they backed out on good terms as opposed to whatever the hell happened with Konami back in the day.
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u/organizim 1d ago
These are the same reasons Konami ended their relationship with Kojima. Almost word for word.
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u/FatherShambles 7h ago
And Xbox is just gonna allow him to repeat the same bullshit under their watch because they’re so desperate. And since they have money to burn they won’t care and we’ll have to keep waiting 10 years for his games to come out. This could’ve been a learning lesson for him but instead he was just rewarded with more money and power.
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u/SpicyEddy10 1d ago
I was told by the neckbeards that this was because Kojima didn't approve of digital only.
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u/znubionek 17h ago
I was told just his name itself sells so many consoles. That's why Death Stranding 2 didn't even sell 2 mln copies on PS5. 🤡
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u/ivazquez71 1d ago
Kojima would make a $300 million version of Double Fine’s Keeper filled with 30 minute cutscenes and would have Hollywood actors dressed up as a lighthouse and a bird.
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u/Abridged6251 1d ago
Weird, this type of game is exactly what Xbox would cancel immediately. I bet that is exactly what will happen a year or two from now.
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u/MURDERPALACE 16h ago
Worst industry secret ever. I use to enjoy playing Kojima games. Then I got to work with him. Yikes.
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u/notesilver1 1d ago
Kojima made some great games. But his past projects have been duds or unfocused
Metal gear ground zero was borderline robbery
Death stranding was a proof of concept but not very good.
Death stranding 2 had a good story but the gameplay loop still remains decent at best. The animations for walking/climbing are terrible. You can’t have your main gameplay animation be bad. This would be like red dead 2 having bad horse riding animation/feels. Or gran turismo having bad driving animation/feel.
I know everyone loves him but there is only so many times that you can blame the big bad corporation, before the blame starts landing on him. He started feeling himself too much but failed to deliver 3 times in a row.
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u/Skabomb 1d ago
For some reason I have the feeling that this whole ordeal ends with Xbox also cancelling his games.
Cause taking too long and going over budget is what Kojima does, it’s his whole MO.
Expecting anything else out of the man at this point is insane.
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u/DukeRains 1d ago
No no no.
I was told specifically that Xbox pushed Playstation down, kicked it in the nuts, and stole Hideo from them right in front of their eyes.
Surely any other narrative is wrong.
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u/Moist-Shallot-5148 23h ago
Don’t get me wrong I like Kojima’s games but if two publishers found him hard to work with isn’t it a red flag?
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u/Syphin33 20h ago
I kinda dont blame Sony...
Dude probably blows so much of the budget on Hollywood actors where its to the point that the juice isnt worth the squeeze
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u/PovasTheOne 23h ago
Sony is obviously on our shitlist right now, but i can’t blame their split from Kojima if all this is true. And tbh, it sounds accurate.
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u/Ayyyfrom92 1d ago
Overbudget and missed deadlines from Sony games is famously known from what I read the key reason is Sony is unwilling to support him anymore because they don't have own his studio and IPs or exclusivity of his game release because his game will be on PC anyway
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u/PlantainManne 21h ago
Imma be honest. I don’t think this deal with Xbox is gonna work out the way either party hopes. Xbox has a super hard time getting their audience to buy niche Japanese games on their consoles. I think the PC port for Physint is gonna stomp out the Xbox version in terms of sales. I also think we won’t be seeing another game from this partnership for how much money it’s gonna cost. Especially with Asha wanting to cut costs.
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u/ChiefLeef22 Marika's tits! 1d ago edited 1d ago
Key points:
TL;DR - PlayStation ditched Hideo Kojima’s ‘Physint’ on underperformance of the 'Death Stranding' games, and missed deadlines which were causing the budget of the game to balloon | Another factor is a PC release — which Sony did not see benefiting them, but XBOX happily obliged for
More details:
- One major factor behind the decision was the commercial performance of Kojima’s previous two games, Death Stranding and its sequel, which didn’t meet PlayStation’s revenue expectations, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing information that’s not public.
- But the new project has also missed deadlines and was on track to be well over budget despite being years away from release, the people said. In addition, PlayStation was reluctant to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in another game that wouldn’t remain permanently exclusive to the company’s own hardware. Both Death Stranding games were “timed” PlayStation exclusives that were later released on other platforms. Kojima’s closely held studio, Kojima Productions, retained ownership of the franchises.
- The decision to part ways with Kojima is a significant move for PlayStation that may have ripple effects.
- Many of the PlayStation executives who had close relationships with Kojima have left the company in recent years, according to people familiar with the business.
- One key factor is the PC platform, where the Death Stranding games have generated some revenue. Earlier this year, Sony decided it will no longer release single-player PlayStation games on PC, Bloomberg reported. Sony would therefore not benefit when Kojima Productions released a PC version of Physint on its own or with a different publisher, as it did for the first Death Stranding. But Xbox releases all of its games on PCs and plans to publish Physint on PC and Xbox, said the people.