When Hideo Kojima was first ousted by Konami, suddenly becoming the most available visionary in all of gaming history, PlayStation and Sony Computer Entertainment were quick to sweep him up. Knowing anything about gaming history since then, that was an incredibly smart move. The movie-loving gaming genius has since established a newer version of Kojima Productions, creating a mascot and onboarding several other incredible personnel from within the industry. Their first new IP was Death Stranding, which set the standard for all of the weird and convoluted stories and visuals we would be seeing from the company moving forward.
You’d think that because of this, Kojima Productions would pretty much exclusively work with PlayStation to deliver their games. That wasn’t the case when he told fans that he would be working on their second IP, OD, with Xbox Game Studios. In fact, he said that he is,
working with Xbox Game Studios and their cloud gaming technology to take on the challenge of creating a very unique, immersive, and totally new style of game — or rather, a new form of media.”
Hideo Kojima
What could PlayStation possibly do to top a game that would be considered a new form of media? Take him under their wing to create a new Metal Gear Solid-type game that’s basically a playable movie, I guess.
What’s At The Center of the Kojima / Xbox / PlayStation Bermuda Triangle?
If we’ve learned anything about Hideo Kojima and his projects, it’s to expect a convoluted masterpiece; one that anyone with the money would be smart to dip their hand into. Since PlayStation and Xbox are essentially at the apex of all gaming companies now, it makes sense for them to fight over who gets his latest IP.
We don’t know about you, but anecdotally, we know a lot of people who exchanged their Xbox consoles for PlayStations because they were under the impression that Kojima Productions would be exclusively releasing projects on the latter. The announcement of OD definitely provided fuel to the console war fire, but now it looks like PlayStation somehow got the upper hand again with Physint.
“PHYSINT(tentative title)” will be our third original IP since the establishment of Kojima Productions. It is a completely new “action espionage game” for a new generation. It will be created using cutting-edge technology and talents of people from all over the world, whether they work in film or video games. Of course it is an interactive “game”, but it is also a movie at the same time in terms of look, story, theme, cast, acting, fashion, and sound. We are aiming for the next level of “digital entertainment.”
@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN on Twitter/X
PlayStation heard that Hideo Kojima was going to create a new form of media with Xbox and took action. Not only was it action, but a bit of a punch to the face to Xbox owners who are bigger fans of his action espionage titles. The tweet that Kojima used to discuss this new IP included a video that ends with the camera zooming out to show that Columbia Pictures is involved in the project. We can’t think of a more open flex that Sony can make on Microsoft. This, on top of the release of Death Stranding 2: On the Beach being exclusive to the PS5, is an argument that plenty are making in the console war.
Regardless, it’s safe to say that Kojima has the entire gaming and cinema worlds eating incredibly well.
