Microsoft Won’t Cancel Kojima’s OD, But Playability Remains Unclear
Microsoft reportedly has no intention of shutting down Hideo Kojima’s mysterious horror project, OD. That means the game is expected to endure the latest round of cost-cutting across Xbox—though whether it’s anywhere near a playable, launch-ready state is still anyone’s guess.
Key takeaways
- Reports claim Microsoft is not planning to cancel OD.
- OD is expected to remain active despite Xbox-wide restructuring efforts.
- The game was first revealed at The Game Awards in December 2023.
- Kojima Productions has leaned into horror themes since the initial teaser, including distressed characters.
- Patents linked to Kojima Productions suggested a multiplayer-style feature called the Social Scream System.
- A new trailer spotlights a “knocking” motif, hinting it may tie into OD’s core ideas.
OD Is Reportedly Still In Development
Xbox Problems Are Not OD’s Problems, For Now
A fresh report says OD is still being developed by Kojima Productions and remains under Xbox Game Studios as its publisher. The framing is that the title is among the projects continuing to move forward while Microsoft reassesses parts of its wider lineup, implying Kojima’s horror-forward, genre-bending concept is still viewed as worth pursuing even as Xbox priorities shift.
That said, “not in danger of cancellation” doesn’t automatically tell players how far along OD really is. The game was formally announced in 2023, but later statements suggested it moved into pre-production around 2021. Typical timelines for modern big-budget AAA development often land around five years, which would place OD near a potential reveal or release window by summer 2026. However, that estimate depends on steady progress—something that’s hard to confirm for a project that has seen few updates in the years since its debut.
There’s also long-standing speculation about how OD began. Some fans and observers have believed the project started life as a proposal for Stadia, shaped around an episodic horror pitch that Google ultimately rejected. If Kojima and the team later rebuilt it into a more traditional game—while still keeping cloud technology in at least some form—that kind of pivot could easily have consumed extra time.
Cloud tech has been discussed since the reveal, but Kojima Productions still hasn’t explained exactly how it will function. Interestingly, the report notes that OD allegedly depends on cloud infrastructure that only a limited number of providers can handle at the scale required. That could act as a buffer against cancellation during Xbox’s broader cost-cutting, since the project effectively serves as a showcase for the Microsoft Azure ecosystem. On top of that, Kojima himself is one of the most recognizable figures in the industry, with a public profile that overlaps with the Hollywood sphere he frequently works alongside. Canceling OD could therefore have carried more reputational risk than shelving a lower-profile title—another reason Microsoft may be keeping it supported.
Guess the games from the emojis.
Gamoji
Guess the game from the emojis.
Not every partner studio has been as fortunate during the same restructuring period. IO Interactive, the developer behind 007 First Light, announced layoffs after Xbox withdrew funding from the studio’s original RPG—internally referred to as Project Fantasy. It still isn’t clear whether the RPG will make it to launch. IOI has not said the project is cancelled, but Xbox has explained that its restructuring isn’t meant as broad cost-cutting; instead, it’s described as a shift toward concentrating on fewer, more popular IPs and redirecting resources away from other efforts.
