Hideo Kojima spent the best part of 2025 travelling around the world to support the release of Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, but the auteur will remain grounded this year as work gets underway in earnest on his spy thriller PHYSINT.
The PS5 console exclusive – which is being pitched as a successor to the Metal Gear Solid series – received its first artwork last year. Kojima Productions has also been staffing up in order to enable development of the ambitious new project, which will also involve Sony Pictures Entertainment in some form.
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Kojima noted recently that SAG-AFTRA action, which saw actors striking over fair compensation, delayed casting for the game.
But in a New Year post on X (or Twitter), the veteran said he will begin work on scanning stars and recording performance capture for the release this year.
Further in the message, he said:
“This year marks my 40th anniversary in the game industry from 1986 and began my journey in game creation. Thank you, as always, for your continued support and supporting Kojima Productions. I look forward to another great year.”
PHYSINT likely won’t release for several more years yet, but we’ve already seen a glimpse of the developer’s work, as it showed off early scans of actress Minami Hamabe, who’ll feature in the game.
Kojima had previously said that Asian skin is “too beautiful” to accurately portray in games, but his casting of Hamabe suggests the studio has upgraded its technology.
It’s unclear whether the team will once again utilise Guerrilla’s Decima Engine, but it did visit the Dutch developer late last year, so it’s possible PHYSINT may take advantage of the Horizon maker’s code yet again.