Physint’s Budget Is Now Reportedly Around $200 Million

There are still a few years to go before Physint, Hideo Kojima's next project, actually releases, but it's been getting a lot of attention lately. That attention traces back to PlayStation's decision to pull funding for the game, which has reignited speculation about just how massive the project's budget has been from the start.

Bloomberg's Jason Schreier shared some claims on the topic, and The Game Business reported Physint's budget sits somewhere around $400 million, though multiple insiders, including Schreier, have pushed back on that number. The media has since offered an updated figure, suggesting Microsoft is prepared to put up roughly half of what Kojima Productions originally sought from PlayStation, which is around $200 million. That's still speculative, with nothing officially confirmed on the budget side, but it does suggest Xbox is willing to invest, even after going through two rounds of layoffs in its gaming division this year.

TheGameBusiness/ Christopher Dring: Xbox is possibly spending below $200 million on Physint:

"Before that, a quick note about last week’s podcast. During the chat (not the newsletter), I mentioned that Hideo Kojima was reportedly seeking $400 million for his game Physint. Now, regular listeners will know the ‘report’ I am talking about was just some rumours floating around Tokyo Game Show (I mentioned it in that week’s Here’s The Dring newsletter). It was nothing more than that. Anyway, it got picked up by the internet and I quickly had to clarify that it’s just a rumour, and not something I’d stake my reputation on.

Which is just as well, as I now know that Xbox is paying far, far less than that number. Possibly even below $200 million. Regardless, the point I was making is that Xbox is still investing in big projects. It’s not just cutting teams. And that’s true no matter what it spent on the game."

Plenty about Physint's development remains unclear. There've also been reports suggesting Hideo Kojima might lose access to Decima, the engine he used on Death Stranding, while working on this project. The game designer reportedly shifted his overall vision too, now treating Physint less as a standalone game and more as the foundation for a broader franchise, potentially including films, TV, and anime down the line.

There's also OD, the horror game Xbox is publishing. Kojima has confirmed development is actively underway, and the cast has resumed motion capture work after a brief pause. Neither OD nor Physint has a release date yet, with both still relatively early in development.