GTA VI launches on 19 November 2026, 58 days from today. This week’s stories: Hideo Kojima’s first account of how Sony walked away from Physint, a 100-hour runtime and a 200GB install for Final Fantasy 7 Revelation, an AI denial from Insomniac, BambooHR data on GTA VI leave requests, a modding push against The Blood of Dawnwalker’s 30-day clock, and a World of Warcraft: Forever beta that broke Blizzard’s servers.
Kojima: Sony Ended Physint Funding on a June Zoom Call and Gave No Reason
Hideo Kojima has given IGN his first interview since Physint moved from Sony to Xbox. In June, Sony Interactive Entertainment asked for a Zoom call; Kojima attended with studio president Shinji Hirano and head of talent development Aki Saito. “They said they can no longer fund development for Physint. I was shocked and I said, ‘What did you say?'” He says Sony gave no reason on the call, has not contacted him since, and “just gave us the final notice”. He would not say who delivered it.
Kojima Productions is independent and signs contracts project by project, with only two in the building, OD for Xbox and Physint. He told IGN that losing one meant he might have to cut everyone on the Physint team, “or our studio could end up collapsing because we’ll run out of cashflow”, with a bank loan taken after Death Stranding adding to the pressure. He told the Physint team leaders three days after the call, moved most of the team onto OD while keeping a small core on Physint, and pitched Xbox on Physint as a cross-media IP spanning film, anime, comics and music rather than a game alone. Xbox, which he says was already supporting OD technically, took it. Announcing the deal on X on 10 September, Kojima wrote that “we found in Xbox a partner with whom we share a common vision for the future”, and told IGN the vision was Xbox treating Physint as an IP for film and anime rather than “just funding a game”. He has not settled on an engine. Bill Skarsgård stars as the lead, Kojima confirmed on X on 19 September.
On Sony: “I love Sony. And I don’t have any bad feelings against them because I know that it’s a tough time in the game industry.” On whether Physint will still come to PlayStation, he said he does not know the answer and “that would be a question for Xbox”. Kojima said he would have wanted to hear Sony’s conclusion earlier, given a 30-year relationship, and that the project had been agreed with Jim Ryan shortly before Ryan’s retirement.
The interview was conducted before Bloomberg’s 11 September report on why Sony dropped the game. Responding to that report, Kojima Productions posted a statement on X on 20 September, also supplied to IGN, saying the speculation about “our relationship with PlayStation, the commercial performance of the DEATH STRANDING franchise, and the broader production planning and investment for PHYSINT” came from no “official or on-the-record source”, that it was “a serious situation for the studio with a range of potentially significant implications”, and, “for the record: that the studio is in a healthy, profitable state, development for PHYSINT continues to move forward with XBOX, and our relationship with PlayStation remains strong.”
Why it matters: this is the first first-party account of the split, and it puts the date, the format, the absence of a stated reason and the studio’s exposure on the record. We covered the publisher change on 10 September; this fills in what happened in between.
The PlayTheory take: Sony cancelled its funding and the game continues under Xbox with a reduced team, by Kojima’s own account. The open question is platforms, and Kojima has said that is Xbox’s decision.
BambooHR Data Shows Employees Booking Leave Around GTA VI’s Launch
HR software provider BambooHR says paid time off requests from US employees at the companies on its platform for Thursday 19 November, GTA VI’s launch day, are running 9 to 17 percent above historical averages for that day, a pattern it calls a “real, reproducible signal”, GameSpot reports. BambooHR serves more than 30,000 companies and did not give a sample size, and it says it cannot state that GTA VI is the reason. Rockstar has not commented.
Why it matters: an HR vendor’s own leave data showing a launch-day spike is the clearest sign yet of how far GTA VI’s demand reaches outside gaming.
The PlayTheory take: a real signal with a loose attribution. The number is worth reporting; the reason is BambooHR’s inference. We will keep tracking pre-launch signals as November approaches. Everything confirmed about the game is on our GTA 6 hub.
Final Fantasy 7 Revelation: Over 100 Hours for Completionists and Around 200GB to Install, Says Hamaguchi
Director Naoki Hamaguchi told IGN a completionist run of Final Fantasy 7 Revelation will easily take over 100 hours. On install size he told VGC, as IGN and PC Gamer report, that “things are still getting worked out, but it’s probably going to be around 200GB of game.” GameSpot adds that Hamaguchi estimates he has completed the game 46 times during development.
Why it matters: this is the closing chapter of Square Enix’s remake trilogy, and on the director’s own figures it is the largest of the three by a wide margin. Rebirth shipped at roughly 150GB on PS5; 200GB on a base PS5’s 825GB drive is a quarter of the usable space.
The PlayTheory take: director runtime estimates run high, and the 200GB figure is hedged with a “probably”. The storage number is still the one to plan around.
Insomniac Says Marvel’s Wolverine Uses No Generative AI
Insomniac Games says Marvel’s Wolverine contains no generative AI, after players flagged a malformed restroom sign in the game as AI-generated. Community director James Stevenson’s reply on X on 18 September: “No. This is a UV map bug and we have a fix coming. There are no AI generated assets in Marvel’s Wolverine.” The exchange was reported by IGN reports. Separately, Insomniac has patched the scent-trail and audio-sense indicators that players had nicknamed “fart gas”, nerfing both after criticism, per IGN.
Why it matters: an AI accusation attached itself to a big-budget release within days of players noticing odd signage, and the studio answered directly rather than letting it run. The sense-indicator nerf is an ordinary balance fix.
The PlayTheory take: the denial is the studio’s own account and nobody outside Insomniac has audited the assets, but a named bug with a fix promised is a checkable claim. If the patched sign looks right, the explanation holds.
Modders Are Extending The Blood of Dawnwalker’s 30-Day Time Limit
Rebel Wolves built The Blood of Dawnwalker around a 30-day in-game clock, and modders are extending it, with a Nexus Mods option that stretches the main quest timer to 90 days, so players can finish every questline, IGN reports. Separately, Bloomberg reports the game was made on a budget of around $40 million, per IGN; neither Rebel Wolves nor publisher Bandai Namco has confirmed the figure.
Why it matters: a hard time limit splits players between those who want the pressure and those who want to see everything. Modders removing it are not rejecting the game; they are playing more of it.
The PlayTheory take: a disagreement between a design and its audience, not a controversy. Worth watching whether Rebel Wolves’ own patches ever loosen the clock.
World of Warcraft: Forever Beta Numbers Are the Largest in 17 Years, Says Blizzard Designer
Josh Greenfield, senior game designer on World of Warcraft: Forever, posted on X on 18 September that the beta is putting up “the craziest numbers I’ve seen in 17 years working at Blizzard”, after demand overwhelmed the beta’s single regional realm, as IGN and GamesRadar report. Blizzard has not published player counts.
Why it matters: after a mixed few years of player sentiment, a beta that breaks Blizzard’s own servers is the strongest early signal the franchise has had in some time.
The PlayTheory take: beta demand is not retention, and “craziest numbers” is a designer’s reaction rather than a figure. It is still a strong start.
Come tell us in the PlayTheory Discord whether you are booking leave for GTA VI, and whether 100 hours of Final Fantasy 7 Revelation sounds like a dream or a chore.