Hideo Kojima’s upcoming action-espionage game PHYSINT has become the center of a new dispute over its reported budget. While The Game Business editor-in-chief Christopher Dring previously reported that figures ranging from $300 million to $600 million were being discussed in Tokyo, with $400 million reportedly the figure most frequently mentioned, other industry reporters now say Xbox is paying considerably less.
The conflicting reports are important because PHYSINT was originally being developed with PlayStation before Sony withdrew from the project. Microsoft subsequently announced that Xbox would publish the game as part of its expanded partnership with Kojima Productions.
Xbox Is Reportedly Paying a Fraction of $400 Million
Dring discussed the rumored figures in a September 21 edition of The Game Business, saying he had heard numbers between $300 million and $600 million, while $400 million was the figure most commonly being discussed. However, he did not confirm that Microsoft itself had committed $400 million to the project.
Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier subsequently pushed back against treating the number as Xbox’s confirmed budget. Schreier said he had spoken to someone at Microsoft with firsthand knowledge of the deal who told him Xbox had signed PHYSINT for “significantly less” than $400 million. He also cautioned that several different figures could be involved, including the game’s original PlayStation budget, negotiations, potential costs with different actors and its eventual development cost.
Windows Central executive editor Jez Corden reported a similar conclusion. According to his firsthand sources, the $400 million figure could instead represent what Sony and PlayStation might have been expected to spend before the deal fell apart. Corden said Xbox and Kojima Productions are working with a “fraction” of that reported figure.
PHYSINT’s Budget Remains Unconfirmed
The reports do not establish an exact development budget for PHYSINT. They instead suggest that the $400 million figure circulating online should not be treated as the amount Microsoft is paying Kojima Productions.
Corden also reported that Microsoft’s agreement includes film and television rights connected to PHYSINT, alongside improved terms for Kojima’s other Xbox project, OD. Xbox officially confirmed that its expanded partnership with Kojima Productions extends beyond games into film and television.
PHYSINT is still in relatively early development, and Kojima has said that important decisions, including the game’s engine, have not been finalized. The project stars Bill Skarsgård and is intended to return Kojima to the action-espionage genre.
For now, the biggest takeaway is that there is no confirmed $400 million Xbox budget for PHYSINT. Multiple reports instead point toward Microsoft funding the project at a substantially lower figure, although the actual number remains unknown.
