Sony told Hideo Kojima during a Zoom call in June that it would no longer fund Physint, leaving him shocked and uncertain about Kojima Productions’ future. Although he understood the wider industry’s financial difficulties, Kojima believed the project was secure and said he could not initially understand Sony’s decision.

Kojima feared losing staff and potentially exhausting the studio’s cash reserves, particularly because the company was also working on the horror game OD and had borrowed money. After three months of pitching, he secured Microsoft as Physint’s new publisher, presenting it as a wider multimedia intellectual property involving films, television, anime, comics and music. Kojima said he still loved Sony and held no ill feelings towards the company.