In the long negotiation between artistic ambition and institutional risk, Sony chose caution — stepping back from Hideo Kojima's Physint after concluding that years of remaining development, mounting costs, and uncertain returns made the project too great a burden to carry. The studio spent three months adrift before Microsoft extended a hand, offering not just funding but a publishing ecosystem that spans both console and PC. What reads as a corporate transaction is also a reminder that even visionary work must find its patron, and that patrons, too, have limits.