Hideo Kojima Reveals Why Xbox Backed His 'Crazy' New Game, OD

With Death Stranding 2: On the Beach now available on both PC and PS5, Hideo Kojima is shifting his full focus toward his next ambitious project: the Xbox-exclusive horror title, OD. Though the game was first announced back in 2023, new details from a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly shed light on the difficult path the project took to get off the ground.

Kojima has never shied away from unconventional ideas, but OD apparently pushed those limits further than ever before. When shopping the concept around to various publishing partners, Kojima says he faced repeated rejection. "I pitched to many people, to the big companies, and also to the up-and-coming companies. All of them said the same thing. They said that I'm crazy and that they really don't understand the concept—that they will not be able to do it."

A New Form of Media

The vision for OD is inherently difficult to categorize. Kojima describes it as "a game and at the same time a movie and at the same time a new form of media." He has been candid about the fact that the project is unlike anything currently on the market, going so far as to admit he isn't even sure if his intended design will work. He expects the final product to be polarizing, telling interviewers that he is comfortable with the idea that plenty of people will likely hate it.

The primary goal is to redefine horror in a single-player format. "I wanted to go beyond the limit of the 'scariness' that other games had reached," Kojima said. While he remains tight-lipped about the specific mechanics, he noted that he has developed a system to assist players who might find the experience too intense, though he declined to elaborate further to avoid spoiling the game's core hook.

The Xbox Partnership

Ultimately, it was the leadership at Xbox that saw the potential in Kojima’s vision. Former Xbox head Phil Spencer and the newly-appointed leader, Asha Sharma, are cited as the key figures who recognized what Kojima was trying to achieve, securing the title for the platform.

In addition to OD, Kojima is currently working on Physint, an espionage-themed project published by PlayStation. That title features a cast including Don Lee, Charlee Fraser, and Minami Hamabe, signaling a busy period for Kojima Productions as they juggle these distinct, high-profile projects.

Tencent Re-evaluating Japanese Studio Stakes

While Kojima’s projects move forward, the broader industry landscape is seeing movement among major investors. Recent reports indicate that the Chinese conglomerate Tencent is currently in negotiations to offload stakes in several Japanese studios, including Monster Hunter Stories developer Marvelous, as it performs a global portfolio re-assessment during a period of economic strain.

According to reports, Tencent is considering selling these stakes back to original management, sometimes at a loss. Notably, other Tencent-backed entities such as FromSoftware and Platinum Games are not involved in these negotiations. For now, the move appears to be part of a shift toward co-development ventures, such as the partnership with Ubisoft that created Vantage Studios, rather than a full retreat from the sector.