A new report from 9to5Google suggests that Hideo Kojima was willing to create a Death Stranding sequel exclusively for Google Stadia, but the offer was rejected.
Death Stranding was released exclusively for the PlayStation 4 back in 2019 but has since received a current-gen upgrade for the PlayStation 5 and a PC release via Steam and the Epic Games Store. Reportedly, Google was working with Hideo Kojima to create a sequel to Death Stranding that would be exclusive to the company’s Stadia console.
The sequel was apparently in the early stages of development, but shortly after the first mock-ups were shown to Google in 2020, they decided to scrap the project. According to 9to5Google’s report, this was largely down to Kojima wanting to make the Death Stranding sequel much more of a single-player experience.
Although the first Death Stranding probably doesn’t jump out to players as a multiplayer title, it was an asynchronous multiplayer game. You couldn’t play directly with your friends, but players around the world could build structures which would appear in other players’ games. Reportedly, Kojima wanted to keep the sequel a strictly single-player experience, something Google was not on board with.
It’s not clear exactly how true this rumor is, as there has yet to be any comment from Google or Kojima on the project. However, earlier this year VGC reported that the Google Stadia team had “cancelled dozens of projects and third-party licensing deals”.
A spokesperson for Stadia denied the claims to VGC, and when asked specifically about the Kojima project, the spokesperson responded with “We talk to partners all the time in situations that don’t result in a project or even a proposal. This is very common. Speculating that two parties that speak regularly in this industry leads to proposals or otherwise, is inaccurate.”
There is ongoing speculation that Kojima is working on a sequel to Death Stranding, with Norman Reedus himself even stating in an interview with Leo that they have “just started the second one”. But, whether or not the sequel was supposed to be a Google Stadia exclusive, remains a rumor for the time being.
Google’s Vice President Phil Harrison confirmed yesterday that the Google Stadia would be shut down in 2023, more on that story at the link below.