Hideo Kojima is quite busy lately, as the veteran developer has multiple projects in the works at his studio Kojima Productions. A recent trailer for Death Stranding 2: On The Beach showed off more story, gameplay, and creepy puppets for the sequel, and over at Microsoft, Kojima is aiming to push the envelop on horror with the mysterious OD. Beyond those projects, Kojima is also returning to his action-espionage roots.
Announced during the January 2024 State of Play broadcast, the project is currently being developed under the working title of Physint and will use “cutting-edge” technology to create a hybrid game and movie experience. In a new episode of his HideoTube web series, Kojima offered a few more details on the project and how he’s attempting to push the limits on its visuals.
“Of course, it will be a game,” Kojima said. “However, if your mother walks in and sees you playing this game, she’ll think you’re watching a movie. I’m not sure how far we can take it yet.”
Kojima says he was inspired to develop Physint after he recovered from a severe bout of illness during the COVID pandemic, as after challenging himself to create original games with franchise potential, he wanted to respond to fan requests to create another Metal Gear.
“Because I became independent, I wanted to do something new with my own IP, Kojima said. “So to challenge myself, I first made Death Stranding. Then, to create a franchise, I made Death Stranding 2. And I wanted to do something even newer, so I started working on OD. And since then, there have been a lot of new ideas. But in the last eight years, every day on social media, from users all around the world, people have been asking me to create another Metal Gear and stuff like that.
“Then, I fell ill in 2020. It was also during the pandemic, so I was sick and isolated during all of it. I even had surgery. And I thought, ‘I can’t anymore.’ I was at my lowest and felt like I couldn’t go back to making games. I wrote a will, too. And in that moment, I realized that people die. But, I turned 60 last year. I’ll turn 70 in 10 years. I hope to never retire. Having said that, if the users desire it so much, I thought I should change my priorities a bit. I still want to do new things, but I decided to make an action-espionage game.”
Physint won’t be out for quite a long time, as Kojima confirmed during last month’s State of Play that “preparations are underway” to start developing it after Death Stranding: On The Beach is released in 2025.
