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Xbox FanFest Tokyo ran on September 17 at Terrada Warehouse B&C HALL in Shinagawa, with playable stations for Minecraft Dungeons II, Forza Horizon 6, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, plus a Fable photo spot. Larry Hryb, Major Nelson, walked through 25 years of Xbox in a talk session. Hideo Kojima appeared at the event.
Cinema Today published a joint interview on September 10 with game director Hideo Kojima and filmmaker Shinya Tsukamoto. Kojima said many wars are breaking out, that Japan could be pulled into one, and that no one is speaking against it. He said the situation is like pre-World War II Japan. Tsukamoto said many adults intend to create the environment for war. Kojima Productions recently moved Physint from Sony Interactive Entertainment to Xbox Game Studios.
Hideo Kojima discussed Kojima Productions' two announced titles, OD and PHYSINT, on episode 36 of the radio program Kojima 10, which streamed on TBS Radio's official YouTube channel from 10:00 PM on October 5. Kojima said he wants to release the horror game OD without saying anything and does not want to put out a teaser either. For the espionage action game PHYSINT, the plot is already complete, and Kojima said he wants to make a spy action game with new elements, a somewhat different one. Both games were announced earlier, OD in 2023 and PHYSINT in 2024. On casting, Kojima said the unannounced actors are all actors he loves, and that most of them like him too, adding that about 70 percent of the cast members are fans of his work.
Asha Sharma, CEO of Xbox, told The New York Times in an interview published September 30 that the division will not be sold, directly addressing rumors that followed the company's large-scale reorganization. Sharma took over the gaming division in February 2026 after Phil Spencer stepped down. Under the "Xbox Reset," the company announced layoffs of about 1,600 people in July and said it would cut roughly 3,200 people this fiscal year. She said Xbox will proceed from a long-term perspective and will consider the right partners and operating model. Sharma also addressed the partnership with Kojima Productions on the new action espionage title PHYSINT, saying she is pleased Hideo Kojima chose to work with Xbox. She said the cooperative relationship with Sony will continue and that competition and collaboration can coexist.
Xbox FanFest Tokyo ran at Terrada Warehouse B&C HALL in Tennozu Isle on the first day of Tokyo Game Show 2026, marking Xbox's 25th anniversary as the Tokyo stop of a tour across 7 countries and 8 cities. The venue featured demos including Minecraft Dungeons II and Forza Horizon 6, a talk with Larry Hryb, and a watch party for the Xbox Games Showcase 2026 Broadcast, where Hideo Kojima appeared on stage as a surprise.
Kojima Productions issued an official statement on September 20 responding to online speculation about why the publishing partner for PHYSINT changed. The studio said the articles in question were not based on official or documented reliable sources and asked readers to judge them carefully. According to the statement, Kojima Productions is in a healthy and profitable state, PHYSINT development is progressing smoothly in cooperation with Xbox, and the studio's relationship with PlayStation remains strong. The speculation covered the studio's relationship with PlayStation, the commercial performance of the Death Stranding series, and the production plans and investment for PHYSINT. Kojima Productions said the speculation and defamatory statements affect fans, creative partners, and people it has worked with for 30 years, and that overlooking the situation could have a serious impact on the studio and related parties. The statement closes by thanking fans for their continued support.
Hideo Kojima appeared during the Xbox Tokyo Game Show 2026 Broadcast on September 17 and gave a status update on OD: KNOCK, the horror project in development at Kojima Productions. Performance capture work, which had been suspended because of a strike, resumed this year and is moving according to plan. Kojima named Sophia Lillis and Hunter Schafer as the lead actors and asked viewers to look forward to their performances. He described the project as an unprecedented and completely new challenging game that pushes the limits of horror, and said that after repeated trial and error and experimentation the work is gradually taking shape. He added that he feels it is coming together and asked audiences to wait a while longer for more information. The broadcast ran from 19:00, and after the stream Kojima walked on stage at Xbox FanFest Tokyo, held alongside Tokyo Game Show 2026.
Kojima Productions announced on September 17, 2026, during the Xbox Tokyo Game Show 2026 Broadcast, that Bill Skarsgård will play the lead in PHYSINT, the new spy action title directed by Hideo Kojima. Skarsgård plays the protagonist, the character the player controls. A new teaser visual uses photos Kojima took himself of Skarsgård and Charlie Fraser during costume fittings, scans, and camera tests held earlier this year. Skarsgård joins a cast that already includes Fraser, Ma Dong-seok, and Minami Hamabe, whose involvement was announced earlier. Kojima said he had long been a fan of Skarsgård's work and that Skarsgård is also a fan of his, and that the tests left him confident in the project's direction. Casting, actor scans, and work with outside creators are ongoing, and more cast announcements are planned. In the same message, Kojima said performance capture and ADR recording on the horror game OD resumed this year after the SAG-AFTRA strike suspension.
Asha Sharma, who leads Microsoft's Xbox division, visited Kojima Productions in Japan and appeared in a photo with Hideo Kojima that he posted to social media. Sharma took over the Xbox division after Phil Spencer, who had led it since 2014. Game Spark notes the visit could involve discussion of Kojima's projects PHYSINT and OD, both announced without release dates.
Kojima Productions says PlayStation withdrew from PHYSINT, the espionage game it had been developing with Sony. Hideo Kojima said a notice stating the project would be canceled arrived from Sony Interactive Entertainment in mid-June, and that the studio spent three months seeking a new partner before signing with Xbox. PlayStation said its relationship with Kojima remains strong after 30 years of collaboration.
Kojima Productions announced on September 10, 2026 that its new-generation action espionage game PHYSINT will be published in partnership with Xbox, ending its collaboration with PlayStation Studios. Hideo Kojima said Sony Interactive Entertainment notified him in mid-June 2026 that the in-production PHYSINT project would be canceled. Kojima wrote on X that PHYSINT is an important project for him and for Kojima Productions, so he spent about three months searching for a new partner and settled on Xbox, a party with whom he can share a vision for the future. The Xbox partnership expands on the existing collaboration behind OD, which is also set for Xbox Game Studios. Xbox division CEO Asha Sharma said Kojima's attitude of challenging conventional concepts is the kind of creativity Xbox wants to support. PlayStation Studios said it made the difficult decision to step away after careful consideration and continues to hold Kojima's vision for the game in deep respect. Release date and price for PHYSINT are undecided.
Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey began IMAX advance screenings in Japan on September 4, and demand is running ahead of supply. Grand Cinema Sunshine Ikebukuro sold out every showing for September 4 and 5 within hours of tickets going on sale, and other Tokyo theaters reported sold-out screenings piling up. The advance run continues through September 10, ahead of the nationwide release on September 11. The screenings arrived with a wave of celebrity comments. Director Lee Sang-il called the film "a movie at the extreme point," manga artist Mari Yamazaki said it showed the maturity of film history, and game creator Hideo Kojima praised the all-IMAX presentation as "an Odyssey no one has seen." Astronaut Soichi Noguchi, who returned from space, said the story of a hero carrying guilt after war left him in awe. The film, based on Homer's epic and starring Matt Damon as Odysseus, is the first feature shot entirely with IMAX cameras. Its worldwide box office reached $1.5526 billion (about 251.5 billion yen) as of August 30, the highest for a Nolan film and the highest ever for an R-rated release.
Game Spark traced the history of Hideo Kojima and Ma Dong-seok's relationship in its Tonari no Hideo column, noting the actor's confirmed appearance in the newly announced PHYSINT. The column recounts a relationship stretching back to 2021, when Kojima mentioned the actor on X, through a 2022 Zoom call and a 2023 visit to Kojima Productions' studio, before Ma Dong-seok's cameo in DEATH STRANDING 2: ON THE BEACH.
METAL GEAR SOLID: MASTER COLLECTION Vol.2 releases August 27, 2026 for PC (Steam), PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2, and Nintendo Switch. Metacritic scores stand at 80 for PC (14 reviews) and 85 for PS5 (28 reviews) as of writing. Critics praise the quality of the ports, especially the long-awaited MGS4, though some note omissions and sparse extras.
Happinet Phantom Studios announced that the film Backrooms will screen in 4DX, Dolby Cinema, and Dolby Atmos formats in Japan, with two new posters and a comment poster featuring praise from Christopher Nolan, Hideo Kojima, and Genki Kawamura. The film opens September 4 at TOHO Cinemas Hibiya and nationwide.
Game Spark's weekly ranking of the most-read articles from July 3 to July 9, 2026, features three entries from the top five: a Dragon Quest XII development update, Hideo Kojima's comments on the end of PlayStation disc production, and a Battle Brothers content update. The list reflects reader interest in major franchise news and industry commentary.
Anime News Network published a five-part roundup of Tanabata greetings from across the anime, manga, and video game industries on July 7, 2026. The collection includes wishes and illustrations from official accounts for series such as Bungo Stray Dogs, Detective Conan, My Hero Academia, Sakamoto Days, Doraemon, Chibi Maruko-chan, Hell's Paradise, and Dragon Quest. Video game franchises like Final Fantasy, Monster Hunter, and Like a Dragon also participated, alongside creators including Hideo Kojima, Yuki Kaji, and Shoko Nakagawa. Several series tied their posts to new releases: the second season of Yoroi Shin Den Samurai Troopers premiered on July 7, My Happy Marriage released a special Tanabata illustration and announced a three-episode special for 2026, and My Stepmother and Stepsisters Aren't Wicked began airing on July 8. The roundup also features greetings from manga titles like Chiikawa, MARRIAGETOXIN, and Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You, as well as from studios Tatsunoko Production and Square Enix.
Sony announced on July 1, 2026, that production of physical discs for new PlayStation games will end in January 2028. Social media users, including influencer KAMI and analyst Daniel Ahmad, noted that game creator Hideo Kojima posted in August 2021 about digital data no longer being personally owned, calling it a prediction. Others expressed sadness and nostalgia, with some recalling Microsoft's 2013 Xbox One policies.
Good Smile Arts Shanghai is releasing a Nendoroid of Hideo Kojima, the creator of Metal Gear and Death Stranding. The figure stands about 100mm tall, includes three expression parts and optional accessories, and is available for pre-order on Amazon Japan at 6,500 yen with a December 31, 2026 release date.
A rumor that Hideo Kojima and The Game Awards host Geoff Keighley are on bad terms has spread online, originating from Kojima's reaction to losing all seven nominations at TGA2025. The lack of visible interaction since then, including Kojima's absence from Summer Game Fest, has fueled the meme. Keighley has replied to Kojima's posts without response, but Kojima reposted a joke about the feud, showing he is aware of the meme.
Good Smile Fest 2026 Tokyo, held on June 6, 2026, featured a wide array of new figure prototypes and painted samples from Good Smile Company. The event included first-time exhibitions of polyester and polyurethane figures from 'New Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt,' a color sample of Cutie Honey from 'Cutie Honey Nova,' and figures from 'City the Animation' featuring Minami Mitori, Niikura, and Izumi Wako. In the game titles category, new items included a Nendoroid of Hideo Kojima, painted samples of Tidus and Yuna from 'Final Fantasy X,' and figures from 'Fate/Grand Order,' 'Steins;Gate,' and 'Bunny Garden 2.' The social game edition showcased numerous figures from 'Azur Lane,' including Howden Leeuw, New Jersey, Taihou, and Mogador, as well as items from 'Uma Musume: Pretty Derby' and 'Fate/Grand Order.' The event also displayed 'POP UP PARADE BEACH QUEENS' figures of Rei Ayanami and Asuka Langley Shikinami from 'Evangelion: New Theatrical Edition' and a prototype from 'Mononoke the Movie: The Medicine Seller.'
Good Smile Company announced on June 6 that a Nendoroid figure of game director Hideo Kojima is in production. The announcement came via the company's official X account during Good Smile Fest 2026. A colored prototype image was released, though the figure is still under supervision. The product page is available on the Good Smile Company website. Social media reactions included comments like "This is too unexpected," "Director?" "I want it," and "I want to display it next to Sam from Death Stranding." The figure joins a lineup of other Nendoroid announcements at the same event, including Artorias from Dark Souls and the Fire Keeper from Dark Souls III, both produced by Max Factory.
Tsuburaya Productions announced a documentary film titled The Origin of Ultraman, opening July 3, to celebrate the tokusatsu franchise's 60th anniversary. The film covers the creation of the original series with archival footage and interviews with original cast, crew, and notable fans including Guillermo del Toro, Hideaki Anno, and Hideo Kojima. Hirokazu Kore-eda is credited as the documentary's planner.