Gaming legend Hideo Kojima was recently in the news when it was announced that Sony had dropped his new spy game Physint, with Xbox swooping in to sign it. In the aftermath of the shocking announcement, more information has come to light, including how Kojima thought Physint had major commercial appeal.
He told The Washington Post, “This is the biggest selling title I could possibly create.” He went on to say, as reported by Kotaku, “I didn’t think Physint would be on the list of being canceled.”
According to veteran gaming reporter Jason Schreier, Sony abandoned Physint after Kojima Productions reportedly went over budget and missed deadlines. In response, Kojima Productions said people should be skeptical of what they read on the internet, though the Japanese studio did not refute the details of the report.
In an interview with IGN, Kojima said Physint is still in the concept phase. He is working out the game’s systems, visuals, and design, and added that a “very small team” is working on it right now.
Despite this, Kojima believes a game like Physint has a lot of appeal because, “Anything espionage is going to be fun, period, no matter what game it is.”
He went on to say that he got the idea for Physint in part due to the overwhelming fan demand for another Metal Gear game. He no longer works at Konami and couldn’t make a new Metal Gear, but the interest from fans inspired him to make a “new action espionage game” that became Physint.
Physint stars Bill Skarsgard, Charlee Fraser, Don Lee, and Minami Hamabe. Kojima Productions is also working on the horror game OD, which is being made in partnership with Xbox.