I wonder if this deal cost Sony as much as FF7 remake. Must be, I'm thinking. Maybe even the biggest deal in Sony history? How much would he need to get started? $20M? $40M? Salaries taken care of plus a $20M exclusive bonus?
Wa ... Are you crazy? (btw, do you know how much the FF7 deal cost? You seem to imply you do)
For that kind of money, they would own the studio outright, every IP they could make and then some.
We know close to nothing about the actual deal, and probably never will, but as Kojima himself revealed it's about much more than money.
It's about trust, people he knows, who happen to live in Japan and with whom he can talk and maintain a day to day business relation, going to have a beer with, in his hometown and talking his native language.
He also (or so it seems) wants a degree of freedom at this point in his career, independence from suits, and let me tell you: If a publisher invests that kind of money in a new studio (even with such a pedigree), they will watch over your shoulder like a hawk, and likely have options to own you.
It makes much more sense that Sony is taking on all the publisher expenses (physical release expenses, marketing, tech support, etc.) plus a "bonus", possibly providing all the development equipment (dev stations, software, etc.).
But the bulk of the expenses? (salaries) That's going to be kept away from Sony, I'd bet on that, so that they can remain independent.
Same for the money tied to the IP ownership (filing for copyrights, asset management, etc.), which will become the lifeblood of the studio and its future (if, like we hope, it is successful).
So it would either be self funded at that level (and I imagine Kojima got a nice severance package from Konami, given the way he was treated), with also the possibility of a Venture Capital Trust investment I guess.
But Sony forking out $20-$40m for no IP ownership and no oversight on an indie studio? That's crazy talk imo.