{"id":783616,"date":"2026-09-26T21:06:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T21:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/783616\/"},"modified":"2026-09-26T21:06:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T21:06:14","slug":"xbox-allegedly-paying-a-fraction-of-the-400-million-budget-kojima-is-rumoured-to-have-quoted-sony-for-physint","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/783616\/","title":{"rendered":"Xbox Allegedly Paying a ‘Fraction’ of the $400 Million Budget Kojima Is Rumoured to Have Quoted Sony for Physint"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"'Have<\/a><\/p>\n

Update #3 [Sat 26th Sep 2026, 9pm]:<\/p>\n

This story continues to develop with many incongruent parts.<\/p>\n

Jez Corden of Windows Central<\/a> says Microsoft is absolutely not paying $400 million to fund Physint<\/a>, although he concedes this may have potentially been the sum Hideo Kojima requested from Sony.<\/p>\n

According to his \u201cfirst-hand sources\u201d, Xbox is paying a \u201cfraction\u201d of this reported figure for the auteur\u2019s latest game.<\/p>\n

In the last hour, The Game Business\u2019<\/a> Dring has clarified that he\u2019s since heard Microsoft is paying \u201cquite a bit less\u201d than the figures allegedly quoted to Sony.<\/p>\n

Any ‘insight’ I have on the budget of Physint I put in an article last Monday (which was for my paid subscribers. I’ve attached a screenshot). <\/p>\n

Anything I’ve mentioned since, is just referring to this same bit. <\/p>\n

I’ve since been told Xbox is paying ‘quite a bit less’ than that.\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/P7ioos7ee9<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Christopher Dring (@Chris_Dring) September 26, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

My questions here, then, are many: is it true Kojima was asking for $400 million from Sony? Why weren\u2019t the two parties able to settle on a lower budget? And if Microsoft is committing a \u201cfraction\u201d of the rumoured figure, is it even going to be the same game anymore?<\/p>\n

It\u2019ll be interesting to see if we get any answers to these.<\/p>\n

Update #2 [Sat 26th Sep 2026, 6:30pm]: Bloomberg<\/a> reporter Jason Schreier has now chimed in on this.<\/p>\n

While he doesn\u2019t confirm or deny Chris Dring\u2019s reporting from The Game Business<\/a>, reading between the lines it sounds like Hideo Kojima may have wanted $400 million for Physint<\/a> from Sony.<\/p>\n

According to Schreier, one source at Xbox told him Microsoft is paying \u201csignificantly less\u201d than that.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what he wrote on ResetEra<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cI am hesitant to get into exact numbers without seeing documentation or corroborating them with multiple firsthand sources, as always.<\/p>\n

And there are a lot of different numbers here. There’s the number Physint was originally signed for at PlayStation, the number it was approaching, the number that came up during negotiations, the number it would have been with certain A-list actors attached, the number that Xbox agreed to, and the number it will actually cost by the time it comes out.<\/p>\n

All that said, someone at Xbox with firsthand knowledge of the deal told me that they signed Physint for significantly less than this.\u201d<\/p>\n

So we\u2019re probably never going to get a precise answer on this, but I think the takeaway is that Physint was going to cost Sony a lot of money without any promise of exclusivity or IP ownership.<\/p>\n

Microsoft\u2019s version of the game may have a significantly smaller budget than what was originally planned.<\/p>\n

Update #1 [Sat 26th Sep 2026, 6:15pm]:<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, Jason Schreier hinted at rumours regarding the budget for Hideo Kojima\u2019s Physint<\/a>, which Sony ultimately decided to cancel.<\/p>\n

A report from The Game Business<\/a> claims new publisher Xbox is stumping up about $400 million for the game, which is on the very upper-end of AAA game development costs.<\/p>\n

Titles like Marvel\u2019s Spider-Man 2<\/a>, for example \u2013 developed by Insomniac in the US \u2013 cost around $300 million to make. This includes a hearty licensing fee to Disney, however.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Schreier suggested that Microsoft may actually be paying less for Physint than Kojima requested from Sony, so it\u2019s possible he was asking for even more money from the Japanese giant. It\u2019s unclear whether this includes all of the cross-media aspects as well, though.<\/p>\n

As a reminder, Kojima was insisting on timed exclusivity and full ownership of the IP, despite these robust budget requests.<\/p>\n

If true, I can understand why Sony walked away.<\/p>\n

Original Story: It sounds like Hideo Kojima was demanding a significant sum of money from Sony to make the stealth action game Physint<\/a> \u2013 despite him retaining ownership of its IP and intending to release it on multiple platforms.<\/p>\n

PlayStation announced earlier this month<\/a> that it had pulled out of the project, which was first announced in 2024.<\/p>\n

Xbox has since picked up the game<\/a>, which will star Bill Skarsgard in its lead role. Development is still early, with Kojima unsure on which engine to use<\/a> now that Guerrilla\u2019s proprietary Decima appears to be out of the equation.<\/p>\n

The game has since been picked up by Xbox, which was seen as a big PR win among gamers.<\/p>\n

But reporting from Bloomberg\u2019s<\/a> reliable Jason Schreier suggested Sony was concerned about the project\u2019s progress<\/a>, its cost, and Kojima\u2019s reluctance to commit to exclusivity under the circumstances.<\/p>\n

Schreier also said that key PlayStation executives who signed the original deal, like Jim Ryan<\/a>, have since retired.<\/p>\n

Kojima Productions pushed back on these claims<\/a> in a statement last week, encouraging fans to approach them with a \u201cdose of scepticism\u201d.<\/p>\n

In a new video<\/a>, Schreier says that negotiations between Sony and the Japanese studio had been taking place for months, with a focus on the \u201cfuture of the project, about the budget of the project, about the timeline, about extensions, about exclusivity, and ultimately it didn\u2019t lead to a satisfying result\u201d.<\/p>\n

The journalist added:<\/p>\n

\u201cBy the way, while I was in Japan, several people came up to me while I was around Tokyo Game Show and various TGS parties and said, \u2018Have you heard how much Kojima was asking for [to make] Physint?\u2019 The rumoured number I have not confirmed but it was pretty significant.<\/p>\n

That said, it doesn\u2019t mean Xbox was willing to pay that much, and in fact I think Xbox is paying less than Kojima had been asking for from PlayStation.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all interesting information from Schreier that does help to contextualise and justify Sony\u2019s decision here.<\/p>\n

While the optics have undoubtedly been bad for PlayStation, it does seem like Physint was going to be an extremely expensive endeavour \u2013 especially when you consider the platform holder would own nothing, and the game would be free to release elsewhere after a period of timed console exclusivity.<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t sound like a particularly great deal for Sony, regardless of how influential Kojima is.<\/p>\n

[source youtube.com<\/a>]<\/p>\n

\tSee Also<\/p>\n

\"Sammy<\/p>\n

As the Editor of Push Square, Sammy has over 15 years of experience analysing the world of PlayStation, from PS3 through PS5 and everything in between. He\u2019s an expert on PS Studios and industry matters, as well as sports games and simulators. He also enjoys RPGs when he has the time to dedicate to them, and is a bit of a gacha whale.<\/p>\n