The widely repeated claim that Xbox is spending about $400 million on Hideo Kojima’s Physint is getting walked back. Several industry reporters now say Microsoft’s deal is worth far less than that. None of them has reported an actual Xbox figure, and nobody has confirmed a budget on the record.
Where $400M came from: Per Eurogamer, The Game Business’s Christopher Dring first floated Xbox signing Physint at around $400 million. Dring later clarified that Xbox is likely paying “quite a bit less” than the figure Kojima had originally quoted Sony. He said he had heard numbers between $300 million and $600 million, with $400 million the one “bandied around.”
What others report: Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier says his sources described Microsoft’s negotiated figure as “significantly less” than $400 million. Windows Central’s Jez Corden says Xbox is paying only a “fraction” of it. PC Gamer pulls the three accounts together and adds that the deal is also said to include film and TV licensing for Physint and better terms for Kojima Productions.
So the $400 million number is best read as the rumored ask tied to Sony, not as Xbox’s budget. Bloomberg previously reported that Sony walked away from Physint over its cost, and Xbox has since stepped in as publisher. For that background on RCG, see Xbox will publish Hideo Kojima’s Physint after PlayStation steps away and Bloomberg: Sony dropped Physint over budget.
Why it matters: the $400 million figure spread fast during Xbox’s cost-cutting and was used to argue that Microsoft was overspending on one exclusive while closing and shrinking studios. If these reports are right, the gap between Physint’s price and Xbox’s layoffs is smaller than that framing suggested.
What we are not saying: this is journalist-reported, insider-sourced information. Neither Microsoft nor Kojima Productions has published a budget, we are not putting a new dollar figure on the Xbox deal, and Physint still has no release date.
