Following up on comments that Death Stranding 2: On the Beach director Hideo Kojima made about preferring to make a game that not everyone would like, Kojima is now worried that too many people might end up liking the upcoming title. In an interview with GameInformer (which you can check out below), Kojima spoke about how previews released for Death Stranding 2 have been incredibly positive, and why this has him worried.
Kojima’s logic essentially boils down to wanting to create a work of art that has true lasting power. And going by history, most works of art that end up being important in the long term tend to not be liked when they first come out. “Anything that lasts 10 years, 20 years, it has to be new,” said Kojima. “And most of those are not received well at the start. That exists for 20 or 30 years, and then looked back on, with people saying ‘This is great.'”
He also spoke about how the preview reception to Death Stranding 2: On the Beach has been much more positive when compared to the first Death Stranding. Kojima said that, during the previews for the first game, everyone had pros and cons about the title.
“For Death Stranding 2, when I tested it, it wasn’t like that,” he said. “Everyone liked it. That’s why I said, ‘Maybe this is a problem.’ It was more than my prediction, in the first Death Stranding, everyone had pros and cons.”
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is slated for its PS5 release on June 26. This means that most of the development work on the game has been completed, and the studio is now either taking some well-earned breaks, or is getting back to work on releasing post-launch updates for bug fixes or balance changes. Kojima, however, has revealed that he has already begun working on his next game.
“I am already working on the next one now,” said Kojima in an episode of his radio show earlier this month. “Just me. Everyone dislikes it when I submit the project plans at this point in time. They are like ‘Huh?, I thought you are taking a break. But you’re talking about the next one.’”
Kojima has also revealed that the studio doesn’t currently have any plans for post-launch episodic DLC releases for Death Stranding 2: On the Beach. He spoke about he believes that episodic DLCs have fallen out of fashion in more recent times. He did note, however, that Kojima Productions will still work on releasing bug fix patches.
“As for DLC – right now, there aren’t any plans,” said Kojima. “That kind of thing isn’t really the trend anymore, is it? I’m not sure though. Before, we used to add stuff post-launch pretty regularly. But now – maybe there will be something like that. After the release at the end of June, if any bug pops up – we’ll fix them. We’ll keep improving the game. We might even create something that didn’t exist at all in the first game. Who knows. I can’t say for sure right now.”
While you wait for Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, check out its most recent trailer.
