Cancelled Stadia-exclusive Death Stranding sequel never existed, says Hideo Kojima
"The rumour that Death Stranding, moreover a sequel, was in the works to be an exclusive title for Google is unfounded."
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Despite previous reports, according to head-honcho Hideo Kojima himself, a Death Stranding sequel exclusive to Google Stadia was never going to happen.
Back in September a report emerged claiming that at some point in time, a Death Stranding sequel of some sort was in development for the Stadia, but was ultimately cancelled by Google Stadia's general manager Phil Harrison as the company believed there wasn't a market for single player games any more. Well, that report was wrong by the sounds of it, as during the 10th episode of his Brain Structure podcast, Kojima put speculation to bed (thanks, GamesRadar).
"How do you react to that?" Kojima asked hypothetically about the numerous things that players come to him with. "Users send me stuff like this directly, like 'word is going around about so and so.' It's constant, almost every day, and I don't know where the original source came from, so I can't say much about it."
Kojima noted later on that he hadn't ever spoken to Harrison about a Death Stranding sequel. "The rumour that Death Stranding, moreover a sequel, was in the works to be an exclusive title for Google is unfounded, and Phil Harrison ultimately rejecting that is quite impossible. I've never once said anything to Phil about wanting to create a Death Stranding sequel. I don't know who pulled this information, [or] from where."
It's rare that we get something as blunt as this from a developer, so it's refreshing to have an actual statement on something like this, even if it ultimately doesn't matter to the general public.
We do pretty much know that a Death Stranding sequel is in development though, as Norman Reedus literally said as such earlier this year, but it hasn't been revealed officially just yet. It's not the only project Kojima Productions is working on either, as the also unconfirmed Overdose is slowly being teased by Kojima himself, with some gameplay leaking online earlier this week.