Xbox announced it on 9 September. The post is titled Xbox and Kojima Productions Expand Partnership to Publish Physint, and it makes the point that this sits on top of OD, the horror game the two are already making together. Xbox CEO Asha Sharma said creators have choices about where and how they bring their ideas to life, and that Xbox was honoured Kojima had chosen it. Kojima said the studio remains committed to redefining the action espionage genre. Xbox also says the relationship will go beyond games into film and television.

Kojima Productions confirmed it the next day on its own site, under the heading Xbox Confirmed As New Partner For Physint.

Then there is the part where the accounts split. PlayStation posted a statement saying that after careful consideration it had made the difficult decision to step away from collaborating with Kojima Productions on Physint, that it still admires Kojima's vision for the game, and that the relationship between the two remains strong after three decades.

Kojima's own statement says something firmer. He wrote that in mid-June this year the studio unexpectedly received notice from PlayStation Studios that it would cancel the Physint project, that the game matters a great deal to him and the studio, and that development is continuing. He has said the search for a new partner took about three months.

Both of those are first party statements. Sony says it stepped away, Kojima says he was told it was being cancelled. Neither Xbox nor Kojima Productions mentions Sony at all in their announcements. Anyone telling you which version is the true one is filling in a gap nobody has filled.

What has not been announced: any platform, any release window, any gameplay. Physint has never had a trailer. It was revealed as a logo at a State of Play in January 2024 and there has been no footage since. So despite Xbox publishing it, nobody has said the words Xbox exclusive, and nobody has ruled anything in or out.