Dear Hideo Kojima, you’d better give us a proper update on your new Metal Gear-style action-espionage game-movie wotsit Physint soon, because for every hour that passes, I think of another unbearable title pun.
I’m not very Physinterested in Physint right now, a game defined by what it Physisn’t. Perhaps I’d be more Physinto it if Kojima Productions would share a proper outline and explore the Physintricacies. But this is Hideo Kojima, a man of *grunts, strains* Sphysint-like enigma. Still, at least we now know that Don Lee from Train To Busan is in the stealthy film-o-game, together with Charlee Fraser from Furiosa and Minami Hamabe from Godzilla Minus One.
Since Borderlands 4 came out, developer Gearbox has released a PC-focused patch that tackles crashes, among a few other things. But players are wondering what the studio intends to do about the looter shooter’s balance, especially at a time when builds that let you one-shot bosses are doing the rounds.
Gearbox has now indicated that in the short-term, it plans to buff underperforming gear and skills rather than nerf overpowered builds. Indeed, those instakill builds you’ve seen online are safe, for now. But, Gearbox insisted, they will get nerfed eventually.
Confirmation comes from Borderlands 4 creative director Graeme Timmins, who took to social media to acknowledge the debate about what he called “builds that use unintended interactions and/or the knife.”
Here’s the statement:
“We’ve seen the discourse about builds that use unintended interactions and/or the knife. We’re not going to act on those immediately, instead, we’re looking at our first round of buffs. Those will get addressed but we’re going to start with underperforming gear/skills first.”
To make this build work you need the Vampiric Vivisecting Throwing Knife with the Penetrator Augment. Land a hit with this knife and subsequent damage to the target are automatic critical hits for five seconds. Add bleed stacking and each tick of the bleed effect registers as a critical hit.
Players have come up with eye-catching builds around the knife that essentially makes a Borderlands 4 boss fight a trivial experience, and thus farming for the game’s best loot a lot easier. For example, Vex’s Bloodletter passive makes your gun and skill critical hits have a chance to apply bleed, which counts as gun damage and is based on the initial damage dealt. Add Vex’s Contamination passive, which causes critical hits to increase status effect application chance up to 100% and thus ensuring the bleed re-procs infinitely, and you’ve got exponential damage. So, throw the knife, land one big shot on the boss, and watch the numbers get bigger and bigger as the bleed ticks it down.
The news that Gearbox is focusing on buffs over nerfs right now is being celebrated by the community. Borderlands 4 content creator Moxsy called it “such a huge W.”
“Massive nerfs hitting Wonderlands & BL3 on launch caused huge outrage and frustration in the community. Love to see this direction,” Moxsy said in a post on social media.
The question now is what steps Gearbox will take to nerf the knife. Will it change how it works completely, or apply slight changes to tone it down?
There’s no timeframe for Borderlands 4’s next patch, but we know some more of what the studio is working on. PC performance improvements are a “top priority,” the studio has said. A Field of View (FOV) slider is on the way to the console versions, too.
Borderlands 4 console players are also keen for a patch to address some glaring technical problems. Last week, the tech experts at Digital Foundry confirmed a gradual worsening of framerate with continuous playtime, even on PlayStation 5 Pro and Xbox Series X. As revealed in a new video published to YouTube, Digital Foundry found performance starts dipping after around 30 minutes to an hour, which it called “too intrusive on the overall experience, too regular an interruption.” Even after a completely fresh boot, the game is still prone to framerate drops.
Gearbox development chief Randy Pitchford has acknowledged the problem on social media, promising incoming improvements. As a workaround, Pitchford suggested console players quit Borderlands 4 and restart. Digital Foundry’s Tom Morgan confirmed this does restore performance, but criticized the situation, saying “resetting the game every hour should really not be an expected solution for players.”
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Lego released its first Zelda-themed Lego set last year after ongoing rumours, which turned out to be accurate. Now, in an update, there’s a new rumour doing the rounds about the next set in this particular series.
Instead of a hybrid set bringing together two different games, this next one is rumoured to be based solely on Link’s N64 outing, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. According to a story from BrickTap (via Brick Fanatics), it will be a Ganondorf Diorama.
Hideo Kojima has discussed his upcoming PlayStation exclusive Physint during a Kojima Productions 10th Anniversary event in Japan.
Speaking on-stage during the event, Kojima said development on Physint was just starting. Indeed, the legendary developer is working on the concepts by himself right now, making characters and thinking about casting. “It is just the start,” he said.
After a video message of support from Herman Hulst, CEO, Studio Business Group, Sony Interactive Entertainment, Kojima described Physint as the next stage tactical espionage action game. Kojima is of course famous for creating the Metal Gear franchise while at Konami.
The tech underpinning Physint is even more advanced than that powering Kojima’s Death Stranding games and upcoming Xbox Game Studios exclusive OD (whose debut trailer was revealed at the show), he said, because it’s due out later in the future. No release date or even release window was mentioned, but from what Kojima said, it’s OD next for Kojima Productions, then Physint, so it may be some time before we see anything meaningful on the project.
Kojima did tease the main character of the game via the first poster for Physint, below. It doesn’t tell us much, as it’s hard to make out even their face. We don’t know who’s playing the main character, either (expect a casting announcement at some point in the future, Kojima said). We do have the tagline “here comes the feeling,” although who knows what that means at this stage?
Kojima did confirm three actors set to appear in Physint, however, each of whom delivered a video message expressing their excitement. Charlee Fraser, who played Mary Jabassa in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, is in the game, although we don’t know which character she’s playing. Also in the game are Don Lee, who played Gilgamesh in the Marvel movie Eternals, and Japanese actress Minami Hamabe, who played Noriko Ōishi in Godzilla Minus One.
Kojima ended his Physint segment with a shot of Hamabe in CG form, showing off just how realistic the visuals are expected to be. We still don’t know which game engine Kojima Productions is using for Physint.
In May, Kojima said Physint was still “another five or six years” away from release, suggesting a launch in 2030 at the earliest, potentially on PlayStation 6. Kojima told Le Film Francais that his aspirations to direct a movie were on hold at least until he had finished developing his first action espionage game since he very publicly parted ways with Konami in 2015. Hulst announced Physintback in January 2024, but since then, news has been sparse.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Hideo Kojima has revealed the first trailer for OD, his upcoming Xbox Game Studios project, during this morning’s Kojima Productions: Beyond the Strand livestream.
As previously announced, the mysterious game will star Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’ Sophia Lillis, Hunters’ Udo Kier and Euphoria’s Hunter Schafer — and today’s trailer showcased Lillis’ character in a spooky house, lighting candles before meeting a malevolent figure.
On stage, Kojima explained that the game was subtitled as OD: Knock — and indeed, a creepy knocking sound can be heard throughout the trailer. The subtitle appears to differentiate Kojima’s video game from the OD project being worked on by filmmaker Jordan Peele. “There is a different kind of fear Jordan [Peele] will do. Mine is the ‘knock’, is the fear,” Kojima said today. “I really am afraid of big knock sounds.”
KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS 10周年記念イベント 「Beyond The Strand」速報
The trailer begins with Lillis’ character using a red card to open a locked red door. Partially redacted text hints at OD’s story taking place 10 years after a horrifying event, where something cursed has once again… done something.
On the red card lies the following text : “Light the fires to celebrate their [redacted].” In first-person, Lillis’ character then enters the room. It’s gloomy, with rain spattering the windows. But, sure enough, there is a chest with an arrangement of candles — fires — waiting to be lit.
After lighting more of the candles — a couple of which are shaped like creepy Death Stranding babies — we get our first proper shot of Lillis’ character, as she shakes in fear. Behind her, we hear a door open, and a figure approach, as a noise like a Geiger counter increases. The trailer ends with figure grabbing Lillis by the head.
As previously announced, OD is being developed using Unreal Engine, and it sounds like Xbox is assisting with Kojima Productions’ work using the technology.
“Development is well underway,” Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer said of OD today. “Kojima is innovating in gameplay, story and player engagement. We’re collaborating closely, and we very excited for what’s next.”
“What an amazing I’d say maybe teaser, or a glimpse,” Spencer continued. “When I first saw it I saw something new, something slightly sinister, but also something that was extremely Kojima-san. OD is bold, it’s unique, and it’s unmistakably from this studio, which is just incredible. We’re deeply supporting the production, it’s our technical work on Unreal that we’re doing with the team, both with the kind of flashy what you’re seeing on the screen, but also a lot of behind the scenes work. We have one goal in mind, which is to bring Kojima-san’s vision to life for all players, everywhere, and we can’t wait for players to experience it when it is ready.”
Other details on the game remain under wraps, other than this important warning about the game’s level of horror: “It’s really scary, and you’ll probably do in your pants,” Kojima said.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
Hideo Kojima and Kojima Productions are celebrating the studio’s 10th anniversary with a big Beyond the Strand livestream that promises to “offer a glimpse into future projects” in development at the studio behind the first two Death Stranding titles.
We’ll be covering this event live and updating this article with all the big news and reveals!
Celebrating 10 Years of Kojima Productions
Beyond the Strand began with a look back at Kojima Productions, including a timeline of the studio, which you can see below;
December 12, 2016: Kojima Productions Established
2016: Official Mascot “Ludens” Revealed
2016: New Office Established in Shinagawa
2016: Death Stranding Revealed
2019: Death Stranding Special Stage at Tokyo Game Show 2019
2019: Launch of Death Stranding
2020: Fellowship Award at the BAFTA Games Awards
2021: Launch of Death Stranding Director’s Cut
2022: Partnership with Xbox Game Studios
2022: New Office Completed
2022: Death Stranding 2: On the Beach Announced
2023: Praying For a Safe Production With Microsoft at Kanada Myojin
2023: OD Announced
2024: Physint Announced
2025: Launch of Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
Kojima Productions Partnering With Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group On a Credit Card
Hideo Kojima and Kojima Productions are collaborating with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group on a brand-new credit card that is aiming to be released in the second half of 2026. This card will also have a smart phone app and digital card to make payments and will let users accumulate points and exchange them for merch and goods. The team is working on what themed goods and merch can be used alongside game characters and themes for the card itself.
If you’ve been hanging out for a Switch 2 eShop bargain, it seems the first major third-party one has arrived. Capcom is currently offering Street Fighter 6 (which was a launch title for Nintendo’s new system in June) for half price in the US.
This takes this title, which has now surpassed five million sales globally, from $39.99 down to just $19.99.
Palworld is getting its first-ever official spin-off game from developer Pocketpair, and it’s looking just a little bit cozier than the original game. It’s called Palworld: Palfarm, and as the name implies, you and your gaggle of Pals will be farming, crafting, and living a life on the land together on an adventure that looks far more Harvest Moon or Stardew Valley than Palworld.
Pocketpair announced the game today with a brand new trailer, and a Steam page. These reveal that Palfarm will be a slice-of-life farming and crafting sim set on the Palpagos Islands where familiar Pals will join you to build a dream farm. Alongside growing plants, you can cook with Pals, shop at their stores, give them gifts, and- no, no you can’t eat them. Of course not. Not this time. They’re farming buddies. Not food.
Well, most of them. Some Pals will apparently come raid your farm, and you’ll have to fight them off. And then maybe when they die, they might drop stuff that looks like food. Okay, maybe you can kind of eat Pals in Palfarm too. Don’t think about it too hard.
While Palfarm does seem to be more focused on the cuddlier aspects of life with Pals, including allowing the player to pet Pals and even get married to other humans (with Pals matchmaking and officiating), it’s not without its edges. The trailer includes a look at a black market where you can, yes, get a gun. What would you do with a gun in a cozy game like this? Don’t think about it too hard!!
Notably, the trailer showed off a number of Pals that can join you to help on the farm, including what seems to be one unannounced new Pal, Sekhmet, that’s working with Anubis as a blacksmith. The Steam page also makes it clear that multiplayer will be an option.
Palfarm doesn’t have a release date just yet, and so far only appears to be in development for PC via Steam, though given Palworld’s trajectory it’s possible other platforms are in the cards for later on. Palworld itself is currently still in early access, but Pocketpair has said it’s planning a small update in December, and is working toward a big 1.0 launch sometime next year.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
The developers behind Call of Duty 2025 offered a multiplayer breakdown in a new post published on the series’ website today. It comes with information about every last map, weapon, and mode fans can expect in Black Ops 7, both during the beta and at launch, while showing off a sneak peek at what it all looks like in motion with today’s trailer. You can see the Black Ops 7 multiplayer reveal trailer, with Travis Scott and Playboi Carti’s FE!N providing the musical backdrop, below.
Today’s Black Ops 7 multiplayer reveal trailer hits the highlights for those who have about two and a half minutes to spare. While players can be seen darting around corners, sliding and shooting at enemies, and even wall-jumping to reach high-up areas, the footage serves as a reminder that this year’s Call of Duty lets players take advantage of near-future technology. These can be seen in futuristic tools like the Echo Unit hologram decoy as well as Scorestreaks, such as the D.A.W.G. quadruped robot and the remote-controlled Rhino soldier.
Classic Call of Duty Scorestreaks like the RC-XD, UAV, Care Package, and more are back, too, with players now able to unlock Overclock upgrades that can improve their usefulness in unique ways. The UAV, for example, has Overclock options that equip it with a flare for missile defense and lower its score cost, while the Rhino gains access to an improved radar and extended runtime.
Treyarch, of course, still has more up its sleeve, but today’s Black Ops 7 multiplayer reveal really pulls back the curtain on what players can expect when beta early access begins October 2 and at launch. While the beta will only allow access to a limited selection of the content available when Black Ops 7’s November release date arrives, we at least know which of the 18 launch maps players can try out in a few weeks.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 Maps, Modes, and More
Black Ops 7 will launch with 16 Core 6v6 maps. Six from that lineup will be included in the beta, with three returning from 2012’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. You can see the full list of Core maps, as well as the two 20v20 Skirmish maps, below.
Core 6v6 Maps
Blackheart (Beta)
Cortex (Beta)
Exposure (Beta)
Imprint (Beta)
The Forge (Beta)
Toshin (Beta)
Colossus
Den
Flagship
Homestead
Paranoia
Retrieval
Scar
Express (Returning from Black Ops 2)
Hijacked (Returning from Black Ops 2)
Raid (Returning from Black Ops 2)
Skirmish Maps
Mission: Edge
Mission: Tide
As per usual, a new Call of Duty means fan-favorite modes have been refreshed, with new modes for players to look forward to, too. Multiplayer mainstays like Team Deathmatch, Domination, Kill Confirmed, and Hardpoint will be available to play during the beta, with Free-For-All, Gunfight, Kill Order, Control, and Search and Destroy following at launch. There are also Face Off versions of many of these modes, giving players an option to experience classic modes while tuning down the chaos thanks to disabled Scorestreaks.
The main new mode given the spotlight today is Overload. Also available during the beta, the multiplayer option will see players tasked with bringing an Overload Device to control zones. It flips respawns on as teams guard their device carrier, suggesting teamwork will be an important element in order to achieve victory.
Black Ops 7 sticks with tradition by offering new and returning modes, but there are even more gameplay-focused changes for longtime fans to learn, too. The three-Perk system, for example, is getting a facelift with a tweak called Hybrid Combat Specialties.
These are activated when pairing Perks from different categories, allowing players to flex their creative muscles by mixing and matching different Perks for unique upgrades. Some examples laid out by Treyarch include the red-and-blue Scout Specialty, which keeps players’ position temporarily concealed after a bullet elimination, as well as the blue-and-green Operative Specialty, which charges Field Upgrades with stealth kills. Treyarch’s Black Ops 7 multiplayer reveal breakdown also includes a first look at a feature that allows friends to share weapon builds with each other with Build Codes, while also granting the ability to access Gunsmith within the Firing Range in Multiplayer itself.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 has a release date of November 14, 2025, for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X | S. Those hoping to for a closer look at how Treyarch has updated its formula for this year’s Call of Duty can pre-order to play the early access beta from October 2 – 5, with the open beta following for all from October 5 – 8.
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He’s best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
