OD, rumored to stand for “Overdose,” will reportedly continue to be developed by Xbox Game Studios.

Earlier this week, Microsoft laid off 9,000 employees and canceled several games. At Rare, development of Everwild has been halted; at The Initiative, work on the Perfect Dark reboot has been discontinued and the studio itself has closed; and ZeniMax Online Studios‘ unannounced MMO will not be completed. Romero Games‘ new shooter has also fallen victim to the layoffs.

However, one game seems to have escaped the Redmond-based tech giant’s carnage on a scale never seen before: Hideo Kojima‘s new Xbox Studios-backed title OD, announced in 2023. Not that many people remember it—not just because it’s been a year and a half since Kojima Productions and Microsoft unveiled the project at The Game Awards 2023. Allegedly, it will be both a film and a new media form. The bizarre teaser, featuring Sophia Lillis, Hunter Schafer, and Udo Kier reciting a nonsensical sentence, didn’t offer much more information.

Since then, Kojima‘s attention has presumably been focused on Death Stranding 2: On the Beach. The game has been released for PlayStation 5, and while a PC version hasn’t yet been announced, it’s almost certain to follow after the first installment (will Astro Bot get a PC port too?). Some have speculated online that OD might have been lost in Microsoft’s latest bloodbath, and it’s easy to understand the concern… but Windows Central says that’s not the case, with sources claiming Kojima’s odd project is still alive and well—though the site ominously adds, “for now.”

This note of caution is probably appropriate. At this stage in Kojima‘s career, canceling a new game would be an unlikely move. Microsoft is now an AI company and plans to spend $80 billion on this technology in 2025 alone. It’s an all-or-nothing gamble, and with that much money on the line, no gaming company gets off easy. For now, though, it looks like OD is still in the works. But who knows for how long?

Source: PCGamer, Windows Central