Sony Spooked by Rumoured $400 Million Budget for Hideo Kojima’s Physint
Hideo Kojima’s stealth action game Physint became the subject of significant budget disputes between the developer and Sony. According to reports, Kojima demanded approximately $400 million to develop the project—a sum that reportedly deterred Sony from continuing its involvement. Despite the substantial funding request, Kojima retained full ownership of the Physint intellectual property and had planned for multi-platform releases, meaning the game would not have been exclusive to PlayStation.
Sony announced its withdrawal from the project in September 2026, ending its financial backing just two years after Physint was initially announced in 2024. Following Sony’s exit, Xbox moved to acquire the project, signaling continued industry interest in the title despite its reported high production costs. The situation highlights ongoing tensions in gaming between major platform holders and acclaimed independent developers over budget control, intellectual property ownership, and platform strategy as game development costs continue to escalate.