The upcoming Xbox-backed Hideo Kojima game, OD, is reportedly still in the works “at least for today.” First announced in 2023, OD is a horror game from Kojima Productions, which is being developed in partnership with Xbox.
The past few days at Microsoft, Xbox’s parent organization, have been nothing short of tumultuous. Mass layoffs have ravaged the tech giant and its subsidiaries, including the console maker, affecting as many as 9,000 employees. As a consequence of these job cuts, multiple in-development games have been axed and certain development studios have been shuttered. Among the victims of the cancellations are the Perfect Dark reboot, Everwild, and a few unannounced titles. As more games connected with Xbox are feared to be at risk of facing the same fate, fans have lately been anxious about the current status of some of those projects.
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As far as Kojima fans are concerned, there doesn’t seem to be anything to worry about right now, with Windows Central‘s Jez Corden reporting that OD‘s development remains unaffected. Addressing speculation in the community about the forthcoming title possibly being “hit by the cutbacks” at Xbox, he reassured, “… that isn’t the case. At least for now.” While this information firmly conveys that the Xbox-published game isn’t in any immediate danger, the closing statement suggests things may not always be like this going into the future—encapsulating the fickle state of the gaming industry in this layoff-dominated period. On the other hand, the source also revealed that the future of “many” other Xbox projects, which were revealed in the past but haven’t received an update recently, was “up in the air.”
OD Development Continues Amid Cancellation Scare
The positive news about OD should bring a sense of relief among Kojima’s followers, especially those who have been waiting for him to make a horror game ever since his promising Silent Hill project was scrapped by Konami. Apart from this, the legendary game director has more work on his hands in the form of Physint, a PlayStation-published title that appears to be a Metal Gear-like game. However, there are little to no updates on when either of these games will eventually launch.
Post Death Stranding 2‘s monumental success, the fanfare around Kojima’s independent studio is bigger than ever before. Having OD and Physint lined up in its development schedule, the Japanese company finally looks set to release a new original work in the coming years. Whether the reception to those games will be polarizing like the first Death Stranding or unanimously praised like its sequel will be interesting to see.