Latest news with #Physint
Engadget
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Engadget
Video Games Weekly: Who put all these videos in my games?
Welcome to Video Games Weekly on Engadget. Expect a new story every Monday or Tuesday, broken into two parts. The first is a space for short essays and ramblings about video game trends and related topics from me, Jess Conditt, a reporter who's covered the industry for more than 13 years. The second contains the video game stories from the past week that you need to know about, including some headlines from outside of Engadget. Please enjoy — and I'll see you next week. If I end up reading one more story about how fantastic Death Stranding 2 is so long as you skip the cutscenes , I'm gonna hurl. At what point during 10 hours of cinematic interstitials do we collectively put the controller down and say, actually, this isn't a great game? Not because the game parts aren't any good — they're pretty fabulous, in fact — but because a significant portion of the experience isn't actually interactive at all. When does it become more accurate to describe a Hideo Kojima project as a CGI movie with moments of interactivity, rather than as a video game first? I'm not actually attempting to solve the 'video game of Theseus' riddle right now, but it's a conversation that's been on my mind, given recent headlines. Death Stranding 2 reviews are in, Neil Druckmann is out at HBO and returning to Naughty Dog full-time, and Emmy nominations arrived with 18 nods for video game adaptations. Meanwhile, layoffs are rocking the gaming industry yet again, with thousands fired at Xbox this month, alongside multiple studio closures and game cancellations. One of the most surprising titles to get the ax was Project Blackbird, a promising-sounding MMO from Elder Scrolls studio ZeniMax Online. Blackbird was reportedly canceled in favor of allocating resources to the development of Fallout 5 , a series with mainstream clout following the success of Amazon's Fallout TV show in 2024. The convergence of video games and Hollywood is not a new talking point — even for me — but it's only grown more relevant with time. Sony in particular is leaning hard into a cross-media strategy with notable investments in television, anime and film adaptations of its video game franchises, and it just published Kojima Productions' Death Stranding 2 , which serves as a lightning rod for this entire conversation. Kojima is easy to pick on because he's been so vocal about his desire to make movies, and fittingly, his games have only grown more cinematic over the years. Death Stranding and its sequel are stacked with mainstream Hollywood actors (and Kojima's favorite directors) across hours of drawn-out, non-interactive cutscenes. His next two projects, OD and Physint , are both described as having A-list casts and 'blurring the boundaries between film and games.' I'm a big fan of experimental horror games, and I deeply appreciate Kojima's eye for building tension and sneaky action sequences, but I'm hesitant to get excited about OD and Physint . The deeper Kojima dives into the world of Hollywood, the more he loses me. I don't download, install and boot up a video game to watch a movie instead, and I don't find it impressive when an interactive product is defined by cinematic terms. The constraints of filmmaking are vastly different than those of video game development, and it sucks to watch a talented creator try to force video games to conform to the boundaries of movies or TV, rather than exploring the mechanics that make interactive art so uniquely powerful. I feel like Kojima sees cinema as the goal, not video games specifically, and this perspective breaks my little pixelated heart. It's particularly painful in an era of raging instability for the video game industry. It's difficult to see so much money and creative talent being thrown at projects that end up feeling more like movies than games, at a time when it's increasingly difficult for fresh and original AAA projects to make it to market. Video games have not been maxed out as an art form — there's far more to discover in terms of mechanics, visuals, haptics and immersive interaction systems, and there are more stories that can only be told with these specific tools. Viewing game development through the lens of filmmaking diminishes everything that makes this medium so powerful. The only Hollywood trait the games industry should imitate is its powerful and functional unions. I enjoy things that exist in the gray space between definitions; in fact, I often prefer them. What I don't enjoy is misguided emulation that's sold to an audience as innovation. In the end, I guess what I'm really saying is… I'm still not over PT . One of the most eyebrow-raising details of Microsoft's sweeping layoffs earlier this month was the fact that King, the studio behind Candy Crush , was included in the firings. King is historically a money-printing machine with high per-employee returns, which tends to insulate it from layoffs, but this time around at least 200 people were let go from the studio. As it turns out, a number of fired developers spent the past few years training AI systems to do their jobs, which just adds a layer of shittiness to an already crappy situation. Has the FOMO gotten to you yet? After denying that you wanted a Switch 2 for a few noble and self-righteous weeks, have you cracked and admitted that you actually, really want one? Great — then get yourself to Best Buy on Thursday, July 17, when the company will restock its supply of Switch 2 consoles in all stores. This coincides with the release of Donkey Kong Banaza , too. I've had my eye on Judas , the BioShocky FPS from Ken Levine's Ghost Story Games, since it was revealed in 2022, and I lowkey love how little we still know about it today. That said, I'm happily devouring every bit of information about Judas , and the latest nugget comes from Levine himself in an interview with classic game publisher Nightdive Studios. With Judas , Ghost Story is focused on "telling the story and transporting the player somewhere," rather than building live-service or microtransaction features, Levine said. As he put it, 'You buy the game and you get the whole thing. There's no online component. There's no live service.' There's also no release date for Judas yet. The crazy kids at Summer Games Done Quick have done it once again and raised literal millions of dollars for Doctors Without Borders in a single weekend, simply by playing video games in silly ways without stopping. SGDQ 2025 wrapped up on Sunday with a total donation pool of $2,436,614. The organization's next event is another edition of Flame Fatales, a speedrunning showcase featuring women and femmes that runs from September 7 to 14. We'll see you there. The well of Subnautica 2 drama runs deep. Earlier in July the heads of Subnatica 2 studio Unknown Worlds Entertainment — Charlie Cleveland, Ted Gill and Max McGuire — were ousted by the team's parent company, Krafton, and the game's early access release was delayed to 2026. What's more, Bloomberg reported that the studio had been in line for a $250 million bonus if it had met certain financial goals by the end of the year, but those largely hinged on an early access release. Cleveland said on social media that Subnautica 2 was ready for early access, and Krafton responded to the whole shebang by accusing the fired developers of abandoning their responsibilities as studio heads. Cleveland and others are now apparently filing a lawsuit against Krafton. has a comprehensive timeline of the Subnautica 2 controversy right here.
Winnipeg Free Press
08-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Winnipeg Free Press
Video game actors are voting on a new contract. Here's what it means for AI in gaming
LOS ANGELES (AP) — An 11-month strike by video game performers could formally end this week if members ratify a deal that delivers pay raises, control over their likenesses and artificial intelligence protections. The agreement feels 'like diamond amounts of pressure suddenly lifted,' said Sarah Elmaleh, a voice actor and chair of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists' interactive branch negotiating committee. Union members have until Wednesday at 5 p.m. Pacific to vote on ratifying the tentative agreement. Voice and body performers for video games raised concerns that unregulated use of AI could displace them and threaten their artistic autonomy. 'It's obviously far from resolved,' Elmaleh said. 'But the idea that that we're in a zone where we might have concluded this feels like a lightening and a relief.' AI concerns are especially dire in the video game industry, where human performers infuse characters with distinctive movements, shrieks, falls and plot-twisting dialogue. 'I hope and I believe that our members, when they look back on this, will say all of the sacrifices and difficulty we put ourselves through to achieve this agreement will ultimately be worth it because we do have the key elements that we need to feel confident and moving forward in this business,' said Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the SAG-AFTRA national executive director and chief negotiator. Here's a look at the contract currently up for vote, and what it means for the future of the video game industry. How did the current strike play out? Video game performers went on strike last July following nearly two years of failed negotiations with major game studios, as both sides remained split over generative AI regulations. More than 160 games signed interim agreements accepting AI provisions SAG-AFTRA was seeking, the union said, which allowed some work to continue. The video game industry is a massive global industry, generating an estimated $187 billion in 2024, according to game market forecaster Newzoo. 'OD,' and 'Physint' were two games delayed due to the strike during the filming and casting stage, video game developer Hideo Kojima wrote in December. Riot Games, a video game developer, announced that same month that some new skins in 'League of Legends' would have to use existing voice-overs, since new content couldn't be recorded by striking actors. Skins are cosmetic items that can change the visual appearance of a player and is sometimes equipped with new voice-overs and unique recorded lines. The proposed contract 'builds on three decades of successful partnership between the interactive entertainment industry and the union' to deliver 'historic wage increases' and 'industry-leading AI provisions,' wrote Audrey Cooling, a spokesperson for the video game producers involved in the deal. 'We look forward to continuing to work with performers to create new and engaging entertainment experiences for billions of players throughout the world,' Cooling wrote. Video game performers had previously gone on strike in October 2016, with a tentative deal reached 11 months later. That strike helped secure a bonus compensation structure for voice actors and performance capture artists. The agreement was ratified with 90% support, with 10% of members voting. The proposed contract secures an increase in performer compensation of just over 15% upon ratification and an additional 3% increase each year of the three-year contract. How would AI use change in video games? AI concerns have taken center stage as industries across various sectors attempt to keep up with the fast-evolving technology. It's a fight that Hollywood writers and actors undertook during the historic film and TV strikes that forced the industry to a stop in 2023. 'In the last few years, it's become obvious that we are at an inflection point where rules of the road have to be set for AI, and if they aren't, the consequences are potentially very serious,' Crabtree-Ireland said. 'I think that really made this negotiation extra important for all of us.' SAG-AFTRA leaders have billed the issues behind the labor dispute — and AI in particular — as an existential crisis for performers. Game voice actors and motion capture artists' likenesses, they say, could be replicated by AI and used without their consent and without fair compensation. The proposed contract delineates clear restrictions on when and how video game companies can create digital replicas, which use AI to generate new performances that weren't recorded by an actor. Employers must obtain written permission from a performer to create a digital replica — consent which must be granted during the performer's lifetime and is valid after death unless otherwise limited, the contract states. The time spent creating a digital replica will be compensated as the same amount of work time it would have required for a new performance. The agreement also requires the employer to provide the performer with a usage report that details how the replica was used and calculates the expected compensation. Elmaleh, who has been voice acting since 2010 and had to turn down projects throughout the strike, said securing these gains required voice actors bring vulnerability and openness to the bargaining table. 'We talked a lot about the personal, the way it affects our displacement as workers and just the sustainability of our careers,' Elmaleh said. 'Our work involves your inner child. It's being very vulnerable, it's being playful.' What's next for the video game industry? The tentative agreement centers on consent, compensation and transparency, which union leaders say are key elements needed for the industry to keep progressing. Monday Mornings The latest local business news and a lookahead to the coming week. As the contract is considered by union members, Elmaleh and Crabtree-Ireland said further work needs to be done to ensure the provisions are as broad as necessary. 'Even though there's a deal that's been made now, and we've locked in a lot of really crucial protections and guardrails, the things that we haven't been able to achieve yet, we're going to be continuing to fight for them,' Crabtree-Ireland said. 'Every time these contracts expire is our chance to improve upon them.' Elmaleh said she hopes both the video game companies and performers can soon work collaboratively to develop guidelines on AI as the technology evolves — a process she said should start well the proposed contract would expire in October 2028. Leading negotiations has felt like a full-time job for Elmaleh, who took on the role in a volunteer capacity. As the efforts die down, she said she anxiously anticipates returning to video game acting in a landscape that is safer for performers. Voice acting 'is core to who I am. It's why I fought so hard for this. I wouldn't do this if I didn't love what I do so much. I think it's so special and worthy of protection,' she said.
Yahoo
08-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Striking video game actors are voting on a new contract. Here's what it means for AI in gaming
LOS ANGELES (AP) — An 11-month strike by video game performers could formally end this week if members ratify a deal that delivers pay raises, control over their likenesses and artificial intelligence protections. The agreement feels 'like diamond amounts of pressure suddenly lifted,' said Sarah Elmaleh, a voice actor and chair of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists' interactive branch negotiating committee. Union members have until Wednesday at 5 p.m. Pacific to vote on ratifying the tentative agreement. Voice and body performers for video games raised concerns that unregulated use of AI could displace them and threaten their artistic autonomy. 'It's obviously far from resolved,' Elmaleh said. 'But the idea that that we're in a zone where we might have concluded this feels like a lightening and a relief.' AI concerns are especially dire in the video game industry, where human performers infuse characters with distinctive movements, shrieks, falls and plot-twisting dialogue. 'I hope and I believe that our members, when they look back on this, will say all of the sacrifices and difficulty we put ourselves through to achieve this agreement will ultimately be worth it because we do have the key elements that we need to feel confident and moving forward in this business,' said Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the SAG-AFTRA national executive director and chief negotiator. Here's a look at the contract currently up for vote, and what it means for the future of the video game industry. How did the current strike play out? Video game performers went on strike last July following nearly two years of failed negotiations with major game studios, as both sides remained split over generative AI regulations. More than 160 games signed interim agreements accepting AI provisions SAG-AFTRA was seeking, the union said, which allowed some work to continue. The video game industry is a massive global industry, generating an estimated $187 billion in 2024, according to game market forecaster Newzoo. 'OD,' and 'Physint' were two games delayed due to the strike during the filming and casting stage, video game developer Hideo Kojima wrote in December. Riot Games, a video game developer, announced that same month that some new skins in 'League of Legends' would have to use existing voice-overs, since new content couldn't be recorded by striking actors. Skins are cosmetic items that can change the visual appearance of a player and is sometimes equipped with new voice-overs and unique recorded lines. The proposed contract "builds on three decades of successful partnership between the interactive entertainment industry and the union" to deliver 'historic wage increases' and 'industry-leading AI provisions," wrote Audrey Cooling, a spokesperson for the video game producers involved in the deal. 'We look forward to continuing to work with performers to create new and engaging entertainment experiences for billions of players throughout the world,' Cooling wrote. Video game performers had previously gone on strike in October 2016, with a tentative deal reached 11 months later. That strike helped secure a bonus compensation structure for voice actors and performance capture artists. The agreement was ratified with 90% support, with 10% of members voting. The proposed contract secures an increase in performer compensation of just over 15% upon ratification and an additional 3% increase each year of the three-year contract. How would AI use change in video games? AI concerns have taken center stage as industries across various sectors attempt to keep up with the fast-evolving technology. It's a fight that Hollywood writers and actors undertook during the historic film and TV strikes that forced the industry to a stop in 2023. 'In the last few years, it's become obvious that we are at an inflection point where rules of the road have to be set for AI, and if they aren't, the consequences are potentially very serious,' Crabtree-Ireland said. 'I think that really made this negotiation extra important for all of us.' SAG-AFTRA leaders have billed the issues behind the labor dispute — and AI in particular — as an existential crisis for performers. Game voice actors and motion capture artists' likenesses, they say, could be replicated by AI and used without their consent and without fair compensation. The proposed contract delineates clear restrictions on when and how video game companies can create digital replicas, which use AI to generate new performances that weren't recorded by an actor. Employers must obtain written permission from a performer to create a digital replica — consent which must be granted during the performer's lifetime and is valid after death unless otherwise limited, the contract states. The time spent creating a digital replica will be compensated as the same amount of work time it would have required for a new performance. The agreement also requires the employer to provide the performer with a usage report that details how the replica was used and calculates the expected compensation. Elmaleh, who has been voice acting since 2010 and had to turn down projects throughout the strike, said securing these gains required voice actors bring vulnerability and openness to the bargaining table. 'We talked a lot about the personal, the way it affects our displacement as workers and just the sustainability of our careers,' Elmaleh said. 'Our work involves your inner child. It's being very vulnerable, it's being playful.' What's next for the video game industry? The tentative agreement centers on consent, compensation and transparency, which union leaders say are key elements needed for the industry to keep progressing. As the contract is considered by union members, Elmaleh and Crabtree-Ireland said further work needs to be done to ensure the provisions are as broad as necessary. 'Even though there's a deal that's been made now, and we've locked in a lot of really crucial protections and guardrails, the things that we haven't been able to achieve yet, we're going to be continuing to fight for them,' Crabtree-Ireland said. 'Every time these contracts expire is our chance to improve upon them.' Elmaleh said she hopes both the video game companies and performers can soon work collaboratively to develop guidelines on AI as the technology evolves — a process she said should start well the proposed contract would expire in October 2028. Leading negotiations has felt like a full-time job for Elmaleh, who took on the role in a volunteer capacity. As the efforts die down, she said she anxiously anticipates returning to video game acting in a landscape that is safer for performers. Voice acting 'is core to who I am. It's why I fought so hard for this. I wouldn't do this if I didn't love what I do so much. I think it's so special and worthy of protection,' she said. Itzel Luna, The Associated Press Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Metro
23-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
Death Stranding 2: On The Beach review - the postman rings twice
Hideo Kojima, creator of Metal Gear, returns with a sequel to one of the strangest big budget games ever, but while this one is even weirder it's also a lot more fun. If you find Hideo Kojima games to be pretentious and frustrating, that's not you being a philistine, that's how he likes people to respond to his games. The creator of Metal Gear is one of the very few game creators in the world that gets to make whatever he wants, no matter how bizarre, with a massive budget, and whether you enjoy his games or not it's hard not to respect him for that alone. Given his obvious talent it's a shame his whole career has been almost nothing but Metal Gear titles and even when he left Konami, to form his own studio, his games have continued to riff on similar ideas, from the original Death Stranding to the upcoming Physint. Death Stranding 2 is a surprisingly straightforward sequel, which may seem a strange way to describe a game with a talking puppet and a woman with her hand on backwards, but it is a peculiar mix of the surreal and the mundane. Like all of Kojima's games, it won't be for everyone but, as he himself pointed out, the more you try to appeal to everyone the less likely it is you'll make anything interesting. If you didn't play the original Death Stranding, we're not sure there's any way to explain it to you succinctly. The sequel barely even tries to, going out of its way to avoid any straight answers. The gist of it though, is that spirits from the afterlife – its gateway represented as a beach – have started appearing everywhere and when they touch a dead body they explode in a nuclear-like blast. At the start of the first game, humanity was heading for extinction, but this was averted by… having your character Sam (played by Norman Reedus) deliver parcels across very rocky terrain, that looked exactly like Iceland even though it was meant to be the US. As the sequel starts, he's in retirement with his adopted toddler. Her backstory is far too complicated to explain but suffice it to say she's a sort of chosen one, with special supernatural abilities. We're not being facetious about any of this. The primary activity in both games is delivering post and trying not to fall over, although your actual goal is to connect all the cities in the country together in an internet-like network that allows you to 3D print anything you like, by using magic particles in the air. In the first game you were connecting up the US and in the second it's Mexico. Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. You get done with that in the first few hours though, which activates a magic gateway to Australia, with the theory being that if you connect all of that up then another gateway will open to somewhere else, and so on (sea and air travel is impossible, for reasons). What surprised us about Death Stranding 2 is that structurally it's very similar to the original. Although in the first game you were predominantly just walking from place to place, the sequel, once you get to Australia, puts more emphasis on driving and fast travel. The vehicles you drive are infuriatingly slow though and while you can find abandoned parcels on the floor, which adds a new element of discovery, the main gameplay mechanic, of trying to make sure you don't fall over, is bizarrely prosaic. Beyond the occasional earthquake or flash flood, there aren't really any new gameplay elements and the delivery concept is both repetitive and surprisingly easy most of the time. However, the combat has a lot more variety, in terms of enemies, weapons, and gadgets, even if it's still a pretty straightforward third person shooter. The stealth is also surprisingly shallow, to the point where you can't even move bodies – although your focus is usually on escaping rather than infiltrating. The little flashbacks when you plug-in the baby you keep in a high-tech papoose (we told you, don't ask) are the same but different, and you still have a series of showdowns with the secondary protagonist and his goons in a dream-like fantasy world, except this time instead of Mads Mikkelsen it's Luca Marinelli cosplaying as Solid Snake. There's also a Cyborg Ninja stand-in and lots of fourth wall nods, but the fact that Kojima acknowledges it all doesn't change the fact that for the majority of the time, Death Stranding 2 is just a bit too similar to its predecessor and still unnecessarily beholden to Metal Gear. It is an incrementally better sequel though, with the combat being faster-paced and more enjoyable. You also have new countermeasures against the ghost-like entities called BTs, such as a boomerang soaked in your own blood (because Sam has magic blood or something). There're also what amounts to a skill tree, which is filled with unusual and useful abilities. Unfortunately, Sam is a fairly unresponsive character to control, with a slow turning circle, and the UI is very fiddly, particularly when swapping weapons. The BTs delight in knocking you off balance (because so much of the game is based around not dropping or breaking your parcels) so the game can feel very clumsy at times – in more ways than one. The ability to create new infrastructures as you go, including roads, bridges, and ziplines remains, although it's not the story missions that encourage it but instead the ability to interact with other people's games and use their creations if they happen to appear in yours. More obviously than before, this is inspired by Dark Souls, with a similar sense of other players experiencing the game at the same time as you but only having a limited reach into your world. That plays into the main themes of the game, which were apparently inspired by Covid and Brexit, and includes the dangers and benefits of using the internet. Subtlety is not one of Kojima's fortes and while it's interesting how the gameplay itself mirrors the same ideas, a lot of these subjects were already explored in the original, especially as the characters that are clearly speaking with Kojima's voice seem a bit too uncritical of the modern online world. The fact that you so rarely meet anyone real in the game also seems unnecessarily repetitive. Delivering a parcel almost always just ends up with you talking to a hologram, despite their being no reason for such shyness in terms of the game's plot. The first location you visit is said to have over 120,000 people living there, but all you ever see is a warehouse and a hologram. Perhaps Kojima is pushing the dead internet theory but whatever the case, he's made this point before. The story also flirts with questions of colonialism and the power of corporations, but it's handled quite superficially, despite the set-up of the plot being well suited to the subject. One disappointment about Death Stranding 1 is that it had absolutely nothing to say about the US and the sequel certainly isn't interested in Australia in any way – especially as barely a handful of people have Aussie accents and most just look and talk like Americans (except when they're one of Kojima's showbiz friends, like the Scottish trio from Chvrches, who in the game are running a wildlife park). It goes without saying, but the plot is absolute nonsense. There's no grounding to anything, no rules that aren't instantly broken whenever Kojima feels like it, and you just start to tune out the absurdity of it all – which isn't a problem per se, but it is a shame. Although all the stuff about babies being born to brain dead mothers does veer into tastelessness, as the game tries to make a serious point about the exploitation of women while simultaneously trying to justify its nonsensical background lore. As usual, the script is a mix of the profound and the silly, but despite that there are some nice little sequences, such as one when the characters are discussing the inevitability of change, and life and death. There are many cut scenes, as you would imagine, but by modern standards they're not unusually long. The dialogue is still occasionally awkward, with lines that don't seem to have been translated quite right, but it's generally decent. Although the way everyone constantly says 'DHV Magellan' – the name of your mobile submarine base – without ever trying to shorten it, and usually while pronouncing the name wrong, becomes steadily more infuriating the longer the game goes on. The open world design isn't necessarily the best (the segue from one biome to another is very abrupt and the idea that the map represents the whole of Australia is just absurd) but the graphics can be astonishing. Things like rocks and mountains look photorealistic and the way deep snow moves as you walk through it feels astonishingly real. More Trending The facial animation is also exemplary, in what is a very good advert for the PlayStation 5 – especially as there's not a hint of slowdown even on a base console. The attention to detail and craftmanship is amazing, such as one random stop off that led to a wonderfully choreographed, and quite lengthy, cut scene about a karate pizza chef, which most people who play the game are probably never got to see. And yet despite it all, as a sequel, Death Stranding 2 does seem slightly redundant. In terms of gameplay and thematic storytelling it's mostly covering old ground and while it's definitely more entertaining than its predecessor it's also not very different. We're not sure the world or Kojima really needed a second Death Stranding but now that it's here it's unquestionably a better game. Like all of his work, it's filled with missed opportunities but if this is the game he wanted to make then we salute that. Outside of the world of indie gaming, very few games are made because one person had an idea they were passionate about, but Death Stranding 2 is definitely that. In Short: A surprisingly iterative sequel that's nonetheless superior to its predecessor and despite some dull moment, and an incoherent narrative, this is still the best Metal Gear game in a decade. Pros: A much more entertaining game than the original, with fun combat and simple but enjoyable stealth. Astonishingly good graphics and general presentation. Mountains of secrets and optional weapons, items, and abilities. Cons: The central concept of postal delivery crossed with a hill walking simulator is as boring as ever. Relatively few new ideas, in terms of both gameplay and plot. Repetitive and surprisingly easy most of the time. Score: 7/10 Formats: PlayStation 5Price: £69.99Publisher: Sony Interactive EntertainmentDeveloper: Kojima ProductionsRelease Date: 26th June 2025 Age Rating: 18 Email gamecentral@ leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader's Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. MORE: Nintendo explains why Zelda and Splatoon racers aren't in Mario Kart World MORE: Xbox VR headset leaks and its release date is a bit of a shock MORE: Games Inbox: Is Mario Kart World better than Mario Kart 8?
Yahoo
06-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Hideo Kojima says Metal Gear spiritual successor Physint is still "another five or six years" away, and that he may finally direct a movie after
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Hideo Kojima has told a French magazine that his upcoming Metal Gear spiritual successor, Physint, is still "another five or six years" away. Hideo Kojima is weeks away from launching his studio's next game, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, but from the looks of things, he's already planned out the next 10-or-so years of his life (and planned out ideas to leave behind after he's gone). After the Death Stranding sequel, there are two more upcoming Hideo Kojima games currently announced: OD, an upcoming horror game that's being made in partnership with director Jordan Peele for Xbox Game Studios, and Physint, a new entry in the "action-espionage" genre (so basically, a Metal Gear spiritual successor). Physint was confirmed at the end of a State of Play last January, but there hasn't been any news on it since then. With Death Stranding 2 and OD in the way, many assumed it would be a while away yet, and now Kojima has given a rough idea of when we can expect it. In an interview with French magazine Le Film Francais posted by Kojima's assistant @kaizerkunkun on Twitter (and translated by ResetEra user Red Kong XIX), Kojima dropped some info about Physint when asked if he would like to direct a film. "Besides Death Stranding 2, there's also Physint in development." Kojima said, adding, "That will take me another five or six years. But maybe after that, I could finally decide to take on a film." So, unfortunately it looks like we'll be playing Physint in 2031 at the earliest. What's interesting is that Kojima didn't mention OD. Kojima mentioned that both it and Physint faced delays due to the 2024 SAG strike, but he hasn't given any indication as to when OD will be released. If I had to guess, OD will likely release before Physint, and he will probably start revealing more about it once Death Stranding 2 has Stranding 2 isn't weird enough: Hideo Kojima has an idea for a game where your character forgets everything if you stop playing.
