Hideo Kojima opened up about his shocking split with Sony, revealing that the company not only ended their long-standing partnership over a Zoom call, but also gave no reason for doing so. Although the lauded video game author said his mind “went blank” with shock when he was told the news, he insisted he holds no grudges. SEE ALSO: Jordan Peele and Hideo Kojima Release New ‘OD’ Teaser Speaking to The Washington Post through an interpreter, Kojima stated that he was “shocked and surprised” by Sony’s seemingly sudden decision, which became public earlier this month. Kojima had been partnering with publisher Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) since leaving Konami and establishing his own studio more than a decade ago. As such, Sony’s unilateral cancellation of this collaboration was completely unexpected, leaving Kojima worried about the future of Kojima Productions and its employees. A Sony representative reportedly broke the bad news in a video call in June involving Kojima, his translator Aki Saito, and Kojima Productions president Shinji Hirano. According to Kojima, Sony did not explain the reason for its decision. “We couldn’t figure it out,” Kojima told the Washington Post. “[Former SIE CEO] Jim Ryan had already retired, but I thought this was a project that Sony Interactive Entertainment and I had agreed to come together and do together… I didn’t think Physint would be on the cancellation list.” Kojima Productions’ debut game Death Stranding and its sequel Death Stranding 2: On the Beach were both Sony PlayStation exclusive titles at the time of their release. Since then, the studio has been working on the horror game OD in collaboration with Jordan Peele, as well as the action game stealth Physint with Bill Skarsgård, however, while OD was being made in partnership with Microsoft’s Mashable Top Stories Fortunately, it didn’t come to that, and XBox stepped in to become the new partner of Kojima Productions, including publishing Physint. In an interview with IGN, Kojima said that he had approached several potential partners and received positive reactions. However, he ultimately decided on Xbox due to its ability to provide financing as well as other resources such as technical and marketing support. Recommended deals for you HBO Max: Best choice for premium content Disney+: Best for families Hulu: Popular choice for originals Peacock: Low-cost choice for live sports Products available for purchase through affiliate links on our site, Mashable may earn an affiliate commission. “I approached Xbox and they were great,” Kojima told IGN. And we’ve also been working on OD with them, so we already had a connection. I gave them a proper introduction to Physint. And then his first reaction was, ‘This pitch was fantastic.’ I’ve never seen a launch like this!’ And that’s how it started with Xbox.” Kojima was then able to inform Kojima Productions employees about the studio’s new partner, keeping the issue a secret until it had already been resolved. With the exception of the leaders of the Physint development team, most of the workers only found out about the change this month, the day before Xbox was announced as their new partner. “The most important thing was that, [Xbox are] “They’re not just thinking about financing a game,” Kojima said. “They’re thinking about movies and anime. It’s more about the intellectual property. Let’s create a new IP.” Despite the unfortunate way Kojima and Sony’s partnership ended, the Metal Gear creator stated that he has no ill will towards the company. Still, I wished the breakup had been handled slightly differently, since I had no prior warning that it was going to happen. “I’m not fighting with Sony,” he told IGN. “We’re not in a dispute. But what I want to say is that we’ve been together for 30 years and we have this relationship. So if this was the conclusion, I would have liked to hear it a little sooner. [than the June meeting]…. [But] I have always been a big fan of Sony. I’ve been using a Walkman. All my cameras are Sony. So I have no ill feelings toward them.” Shortly after the split became public, Bloomberg reported that Sony’s decision was prompted by concerns that Kojima’s project was missing deadlines and was on track to significantly overrun its budget, according to sources close to the matter. Kojima Productions has since responded to this report, stating that it should be approached “with a dose of skepticism.” “Make no mistake, this was a serious situation for the studio with a number of implications potentially “While we recognize that the article may have caused alarm, we want to reassure everyone for the record: that the studio is in a healthy and profitable state, that Physint development continues to move forward with Xbox, and our relationship with PlayStation remains strong.”
