One of the big surprises of this generation has been Sony signing up Hideo Kojima and bringing him on board to develop a game exclusively to the PS4 (that will also go to the PC later). Given that Kojima’s games have protracted development cycles, inflated budgets, that they miss deadlines, and that Death Stranding isn’t as immediately appealing as Metal Gear Solid is, however, the question of whether or not the investment was a wise one remains.
According to Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter, however, Sony know exactly what they are doing- and as partnerships go, Kojima is actually a pretty safe bet.
“Oh, you know, I think that they probably know exactly what they’ll spend developing the game, and my guess is, it’s $70-80 million, and that’s plenty,” Pachter said in an exclusive interview with GamingBolt. “That’ll give Kojima enough to get his game done. And the fact that we are talking about this, years before it comes out tells you that they are getting a lot of publicity by spending this money. Frankly, I think a bet on Kojima is about as safe a bet that you can make. He’s just an amazing game developer, and as odd as Death Stranding probably will be, it’s going to be beautiful, and the gameplay will be phenomenal. So I’ll play it, I’ll buy it. And if I hate it, then I won’t buy Death Stranding 2. But honestly, I think they’re going to do very, very well. I think this is the guy you wanna have a partnership with. He’s just great.”
We’ll see if this turns out to be true in the long run. While I ultimately have great respect for Hideo Kojima, I am not yet sure with Death Stranding, and what’s been shown of it, so far. Still, it’s early days- we’ll see how it goes in the long run.
