Sony’s recent announcement about essentially ending the idea of physical game releases on PlayStation starting from January 2028 has led to Metal Gear and Death Stranding creator Hideo Kojima talking about his own fears about the idea of ownership of data. In a couple of social media posts, Kojima spoke about how Sony’s decision will lead to even digital data to be owned by corporations, rather than by individuals.
He also brings up the idea that, in case of a major catastrophe, access to the digital data can instantly be blocked for users.
“Eventually, even digital data will no longer be owned by individuals on their own initiative,” he wrote. “Whenever there is a major change or accident in the world, in a country, in a government, in an idea, in a trend, access to it may suddenly be cut off. We will not be able to freely access the movies, books, and music that we have loved. I would be a have-not. That’s what I’m afraid of. This is not greed.”
Aside from allusions to potential class-based inequity that this might intensify, Kojima is no stranger to his work essentially disappearing due to the fact that it was digital in nature. One just has to look at P.T., which was released on PS4 back in 2014. Meant to be a demo for the then-in-development Silent Hills when Kojima was still working at Konami, the demo was not only delisted from the PlayStation Store. It was also removed from servers entirely, which meant that not even PS4 users who already had the game could re-download it.
It is also worth noting that Kojima’s works have had a tendency to predict major world-changing events well before they actually happened. An infamous codec conversation from Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, for example, predicted how the growth of Internet usage would eventually lead to users being stuck in their own small communities with a lack of new ideas forming. We can see this in action with social media platforms today. Similarly, Death Stranding was able to predict the importance of couriers just a few months before a worldwide pandemic would keep everyone locked indoors, forcing them to rely on couriers of their own for essential supplies.
While we never really got to see the Silent Hills that was teased by P.T., Kojima has decided to return to the horror genre with the development of OD at Kojima Productions. While few details about the project have been revealed aside from the Knock trailer, Kojima has spoken about having an in-game system to aid players who might be too scared to continue.
“I wanted to go beyond the limit of the ‘scariness’ that other games had reached,” he said about OD. “It’s a single-player game, and I wanted to make it as scary as possible. But for those that might stop playing when it gets too scary, I have thought of a system that will allow them to keep going. I can’t say much more, because it’ll give too much of a hint on the system, and I could get in trouble for saying too much!”
OD is being developed for PC and Xbox Series X/S. While the industry at large braces for major layoffs, studio closures, and project cancellations at Xbox, rumors indicate that work on OD will remain unaffected.
