Draft:PHYSINT

PHYSINT (working title) is an upcoming stealth action game developed by Kojima Productions and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The game will be directed, written, designed and produced by Hideo Kojima and marks his third game produced in partnership with SIE.

Hideo Kojima and PlayStation announced a partnership to develop a new original IP in January 2024, building on their work together for the Death Stranding franchise. PHYSINT marks Kojima Productions' return to the "action-espionage" subgenre the developer helped popularize with their work on the Metal Gear franchise under publisher Konami, which they concluded with the release of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (2015). The game will feature synergy between interactive elements and a deeper integration of multimedia presentation, blending aspects of film, television and music through close collaboration with Sony's film production studio Columbia Pictures. Production is expected to begin after Kojima Productions concludes work on Death Stranding 2: On The Beach (2025).

Development
During the January 2024 PlayStation State of Play video presentation, Hideo Kojima and the head of PlayStation Studios Herman Hulst announced a new partnership between Kojima Productions and Sony Interactive Entertainment to produce another original intellectual property (IP), building on their work together on the titles Death Stranding (2019) and the upcoming Death Stranding 2: On The Beach (2025). The game, under the working title PHYSINT, was described as the developer's return to the "action-espionage" subgenre, made popular through their work on the Metal Gear franchise under their original parent company Konami, whom they separated from in 2015 following the release of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (2015). In addition, Kojima described his vision for the game as built on multimedia synergy, blending the interactive elements of video games with the presentation qualities of film, television and music in order to "transcend" the mediums in terms of narrative, casting, sound and themes. This hybrid of formats is expected to be accomplished through close collaboration with Sony's film, TV and music divisions, with their film production arm Columbia Pictures being involved in an unspecified capacity. At this stage, the game was in early pre-production, with active development not expected to begin until the studio concluded their work on Death Stranding 2: On The Beach.

The following month, Kojima expanded on his decision to produce PHYSINT at this time, stating that the idea to return to stealth-action games was influenced by a combination of fans' constant inquiries regarding him developing a new Metal Gear game, as well as dealing with illness and undergoing surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused him to question his own capacity for making video games as he got older, and that he reconsidered his priorities after having successfully launched a franchise with Death Stranding and being able to develop an original idea with OD, his upcoming project with Xbox Game Studios. PHYSINT being conceived as a hybrid of interactive and filmic mediums was partially influenced by a conversation Kojima had with filmmaker and collaborator Guillermo del Toro, who urged him to continue making video games that were strongly modeled after films in light of receiving requests from Hollywood studios to produce live-action features.