Hideo Kojima explains the surprise split with Sony

In a written statement, Kojima Productions challenged the report.

Author of the article:

Washington Post

Gene Park, The Washington Post

Published Sep 21, 2026  •  6 minute read

Kojima with Lindsay Wagner and Norman Reedus, stars of "Death Stranding", in 2019. Photo by Chloe Aftel /Chloe Aftel/For The Washington Post

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In a Zoom call in mid-June, Sony delivered bombshell news to Kojima Productions: The tech giant would stop funding the studio’s next project, the highly anticipated espionage game “Physint.” After the call ended, studio president Shinji Hirano marvelled at how quickly director Hideo Kojima returned to work.

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“I just went totally blank when they told me,” Hirano said through an interpreter. “The biggest surprise was Hideo’s actions after that. He went back to his room and started working.”

Kojima is one of gaming’s most celebrated directors. Two years ago, Sony PlayStation announced it was funding “Physint,” his return to the genre where he created his most influential, famous games. The split in June didn’t become widely known until earlier this month, stunning the gaming world and some of the studio’s own staff.

“I was just shocked and surprised,” Kojima said in an interpreted interview with The Washington Post. “I didn’t have any anger or sadness. I was just thinking, ‘What should I do?’ It’s a big problem for us and I couldn’t tell staff at the time.”

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His thoughts often returned to the nearly 200 people he employs at his Tokyo office, located right across the street from Sony headquarters.

“We’re an independent studio. That means if they can’t fund us, our studio could collapse,” Kojima said. “Physint” has since found a new publisher in Microsoft’s Xbox.

Kojima built his reputation at Konami, where his Metal Gear series popularized stealth action and cinematic storytelling with actors in games. He left in 2015 after reported disagreements over projects. That year, Konami canceled “Silent Hills,” a horror project co-directed with filmmaker Guillermo del Toro and starring Norman Reedus.

In December 2015, Kojima established an independent company and partnered with Sony, resulting in 2019’s “Death Stranding” and its 2025 sequel.

Kojima’s high-concept Death Stranding and Metal Gear titles cemented his reputation as a sort of prophet of large-scale social changes, like digital misinformation and the isolation of the coronavirus pandemic.

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Since 2015, fans emailed Kojima regularly asking to create another Metal Gear game. He’s always wanted to move on from the genre, but when he fell seriously ill in 2020, he thought about his mortality and how much time he has left to make games. He changed his mind and discussed the idea with PlayStation’s former chief executive, Jim Ryan. Kojima recalls Ryan being excited and the pair shook hands.

Kojima and Hermen Hulst, his friend and head of PlayStation Studios, announced the project together in January 2024.

In June, Sony called for a meeting attended by Hirano, Kojima and his longtime translator Aki Saito. (Citing respect for the company, Kojima declined to name who at Sony delivered the message of cancellation.)

Bloomberg reported earlier this month that Sony’s withdrawal reflected concerns about budget, missed deadlines, potential profitability and lack of exclusivity to the PlayStation platform, citing people familiar with the project. The report also said the Death Stranding games fell short of PlayStation’s revenue expectations.

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In a written statement, Kojima Productions challenged the report.

“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,” the statement read.

The studio said the reporting did not come from official or on-the-record sources, “and as such we encourage you to take them with a dose of skepticism.”

“While we recognize the article may have caused alarm, we want to reassure you all … 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.”

Kojima said Sony did not provide a reason for the cancellation. Sony did not respond to a request for comment.

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“We couldn’t understand it,” Kojima said, adding that he wish he would’ve been told earlier in the project. “Jim Ryan had already retired, but I thought this was a project that Sony Interactive Entertainment and I had agreed to team up on and make together.”

Kojima retains considerable confidence in “Physint,” and is visibly shaken at the idea of canceling the game.

“This is the biggest selling title I could possibly create,” he said, waving his hands in the air. “I didn’t think ‘Physint’ would be on the list of being canceled.”

After the meeting, Kojima said he resumed revising the game’s concept, but also struggled with how to inform the rest of his company. He said he initially gathered team leaders and told them he intended to continue the project and find another publisher. He fretted over losing employees.

“Because it’s a sinking boat, almost,” he said. “And I experienced the same thing at Konami as well.”

The studio’s business depends on publishing agreements negotiated by project. Microsoft was already publisher of his upcoming horror game “OD,” co-written with Jordan Peele and starring Hunter Schafer, but Kojima said that isn’t enough to keep the studio running.

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“We already hired specifically for ‘Physint,'” Kojima said. He added that no staff were eliminated after PlayStation’s cancellation, and he reassigned staff to work on the Peele project while keeping a small team on “Physint.”

“The staff is the most important for me,” he said.

Kojima said he has written out the plot and game concept for “Physint,” complete with storyboards, and the studio has started to create 3D models, along with scanning its cast of actors, including just-announced star Bill Skarsgard. Kojima said he’s currently experimenting with various engines but nothing is set in stone.

Sony’s call brought back memories of when Konami canceled “Silent Hills.” To promote the game, Kojima created “PT” (which stands for playable teaser), a now-delisted game that has inspired countless horror titles since its 2014 release. Would-be co-director del Toro famously expressed his anger at the missed opportunity in a vulgar 2016 tweet. Kojima feared it was all happening again.

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“The cast I already talked to and negotiated with, other artists and collaborators who were all happy to do it … I can’t tell them this is cancelled, especially after what we went through with ‘PT,'” he said. “I didn’t want to go back and do it again and say to the actors this is cancelled.”

The game is also meant to be a milestone for his career and his company’s history.

“This is the 10th anniversary of Kojima Productions and my personal 40th anniversary of making games, and in the midst of all that, this was an important title for me,” he said.

Kojima said he spoke with other publishers he declined to name, but that he also quickly approached Microsoft thanks to their existing partnership. They were eager to partner again, he said. (Xbox told Bloomberg the move was an “easy call.”) Kojima said the full staff learned about the change the day before the Sept. 9 announcement.

Sony’s cancellation has shocked and disappointed him, but his lifelong affection for the brand remains.

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“Corporations are like living things,” he said. “I still have this relationship with Sony. I use Sony cameras, Walkman still. We’re not in a dispute. We’re not fighting with them.”

Some angry fans falsely speculated the split had something to do with Sony’s decision to stop creating physical media for PlayStation games starting in 2028. Kojima said even though the all-digital future is popular, he grew up on analog media – the subject of his recent Prada exhibit – and will continue to use it.

“When I buy something … I want to own it, even if it’s digital, whether it’s on my server or whatever,” he said, adding that his storage space is getting filled to the brim.

Kojima said he worries about how much room remains for experimentation in game design as money flows toward reliable blockbuster franchises like “Grand Theft Auto VI.” He hopes the industry can still look to less certain bets.

“We need to stand firm as a games industry, otherwise the games industry may be on the brink of extinction,” he warned.

For Kojima, that concern also lies with his studio. He worried that its failure could discourage others from funding other independent studios.

“So many people who went independent and made a new studio have struggled to become really successful,” Kojima said. “If my studio closes as well, that’s all the more reason for people to not go to independent studios anymore. I wanted to stand firm for indies, so I needed to find a new partner.”

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