The Game of Spying on Spies
January 31, 2024. The PlayStation State of Play. Hideo Kojima returns to action-espionage. The working title is “Physint”—Physical Intelligence. The symmetry pleases me for a moment: a game about spying, announced as news, which is itself a form of managed intelligence. But then I notice something: the announcement is timed. Choreographed. A PlayStation event, which means it’s Sony’s narrative first. Kojima’s return to espionage is Sony’s announcement to make. He hasn’t made the game yet. They’ve already decided when you hear about it.