Death Stranding

Prior to Google pulling the plug on its poorly supported cloud gaming service, developer Hideo Kojima was working on a potential Stadia-exclusive game.

The dust has just begun to settle, following Google’s abrupt announcement regarding Stadia being nixed. Now, news of an ill-fated partnership with famed Japanese developer Hideo Kojima has surfaced.

According to reports, Kojima was at one point working on a Stadia-exclusive title for Google. The timeframe of this deal appears to have been around mid-2020. Kojima’s Stadia title would have been a follow-up to Death Stranding.

Death Stranding first launched on PlayStation 4 in 2019. At the time, the game was exclusive to the console. The game is heavily narrative-based but is deeply woven with asynchronous multiplayer and community aspects. The game features a diverse cast including Norman Reedus, Mads Mikkelsen, Léa Seydoux, Margaret Qualley, Troy Baker, Tommie Earl Jenkins, and Lindsay Wagner. As Sam Porter Bridges (played by Reedus) players traversed the post-apocalyptic United States. Along the way, players establish networks, roads, and deliver supplies.

Details on this supposed follow-up are scarce at the moment. However, it’s believed that Kojima positioned the game as a single-player-only experience. In fact, this basis is believed to be the reason Google cancelled the project. Google is reported to have believed that the market for single-player exclusives wasn’t viable.

At the time, Kojima’s proposal had only been given initial approval by Google. The developer and studio Kojima Productions then began the early stages of development. Once early mockups were shown, Google pulled the plug.

It wasn’t long after that the card began to fall for Stadia. In 2021, Google shut down the internal Stadia development house. Stadia Games and Entertainment vice president Jade Raymond also left the company at this time. Stadia GM and vice president Phil Harrison then began to pivot to focus on third-party game support. This ultimately led to Harrison breaking the news that Google is shutting down it Stadia services on January 18th, 2023.

As for Death Stranding and Kojima, the game has gone on to be ported to PC and is now also available via Microsoft’s PC Game Pass. Kojima is now working alongside Microsoft on “ a video game for Xbox like no one has ever experienced or seen before.” It’s said the game will utilize the power of the cloud. It seems that Kojima’s sullied partnership with Google did not avert the creator from working with cloud-based tech.

Image credit: Kojima Productions

Source: 9to5Google

Famed developer Hideo Kojima claims that his studio Kojima Production is not joining Sony Interactive Entertainment. The Death Stranding developer came forward after tweeting a banner photo from PlayStation Studios.

On Twitter Kojima posted a new banner image from PlayStation Studios. With no additional content, the image shows a number of first-party PlayStation games like God of War, Returnal, and The Last of Us Part 2. Additionally, the photo includes Sam Porter Bridges from Death Stranding. The internet quickly took this as a not-so-subtle indication that Kojima Productions was joining PlayStation Studios.

Kojima quickly followed up after the initial tweet gained some notable steam. “I’m sorry for the misunderstanding,” Kojima wrote. “Kojima Productions has been and will continue to be an independent studio.”

I'm sorry for the misunderstanding, but KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS has been and will continue to be an independent studio. https://t.co/2M0n4ogRaa

— HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) April 15, 2022

Kojima Productions has had a close relationship with Sony since forming in 2015. It’s one and only title Death Stranding is a PlayStation console exclusive. The game is now available on PC as well as PlayStation 5 via the Death Stranding Director’s Cut.

The knee-jerk reaction to seeing Death Stranding alongside first-party games could understandably inspire the notion of an acquisition. However, it’s likely Sony includes the game on the banner given the publishing rights Sony has. Plus, its relationship with Kojima Productions only strengthens that thought. Death Stranding utilizes Decima Engine, made by first-party studio Guerilla Games.

The internet is on its toes as 2022 has been shaping up to be the year of acquisitions. Sony has purchased a number of studios recently. This includes Destiny developer Bungie as well as Canadian dev team Haven Studios, with Jade Raymond at the helm. Housemarque and Bluepoint Studios have also served as recent acquisitions for the company as Sony expands its first-party teams.

For now, it appears as though Kojima Productions will remain developing games independently. There’s currently no word on what the next project will be. Though VentureBeat‘s Jeff Grubb has mentioned that Kojima is working closely with Microsoft on a cloud-based game of sorts. Microsoft’s cloud gaming initiative is said to aid the development.

Source: Hideo Kojima

Image credit: Kojima Productions