Hideo Kojima says he was called "crazy" while pitching the concept for his upcoming horror game OD, and only former Xbox CEO Phil Spencer understood what he was trying to do.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Kojima explains that he had trouble getting OD picked up by any publisher since "I pitched to many people, to the big companies, and also to the up-and-coming companies. All of them said the same thing."
Kojima continues, "They said that I'm crazy, and that they really don't understand the concept – that they will not be able to do it."
First unveiled during The Game Awards 2023 (following leaks the prior year as Overdose), OD claims it's going to be a horror experience "no one has ever seen before," and it's being made in collaboration with the likes of horror director Jordan Peele and a larger group of collaborators Kojima is calling his "Avengers." OD's concept (and namesake) is for the player to "overdose" on horror, with Kojima hyping it up as a game that goes "beyond the limit of 'scariness.'"
The idea ultimately appealed to Phil Spencer, who understood the concept and took it on board. Current Xbox CEO Asha Sharma also calls the project a "deeply moving game." She adds, "I've got great artists and creatives that can pick a great game better than I can, and so I want to give it space, but most importantly, I think it just represents another kind of game."
OD currently doesn't have a release date, and outside of a very naked leak and a couple of quick trailers, we really don't know too much about what it has to offer. It seems like the studio was waiting until Death Stranding 2 launched before going all-in on development, as Kojima said his studio was just beginning to work on OD last year. Both OD and Kojima's upcoming stealth game Physint were impacted by the SAG-Aftra strike in 2024, so it'll probably be The Game Awards at the earliest before we see another glimpse of them.
