Some of Death Stranding's earliest ideas came together on Hideo Kojima's phone.
Over the weekend, Kojima took to Twitter to reminisce about his studio and, by extension, Death Stranding's humble beginnings on the game's 5th anniversary. At first, Kojima Productions was only a studio in name, as the Metal Gear creator's office space was more of a closet that could barely fit a handful of desks. "Since it was so tiny, I was the only one coming in," Kojima says.
Kojima goes on to say that all he had around that time was a computer, a PS4 to watch Blu-rays, headphones, a smartphone, and a few other bits and pieces. As such, most of Death Stranding's concepts were done on Kojima's phone – in between scrolling Twitter and posting film takes, surely.
- Hideo Kojima says Death Stranding's themes of connection came about because "I thought I lost everything when I became alone nine years ago"
- Hideo Kojima is hard at work on Death Stranding 2, but he doesn't know how much longer he can stand the grueling game development process: "It's incredibly tough"
That's not the only tidbit Kojima has revealed, either. If you remember the hand that forms part of Death Stranding's logo, that belongs to none other than Kojima himself. Quite a hands-on approach, then.
Now that Kojima's got some new tech to hand, we don't have long to wait to play the next Death Stranding game. We know Death Stranding 2 is due to release in 2025, and Kojima says the very date has already been decided – though he couldn't reveal it at the Tokyo Game Show due to "unforeseen reasons." Here's hoping we're not waiting too long for a solid date.
Speaking of teasers, Hideo Kojima showed nine seconds of Death Stranding 2 title screen footage and warned that it's "very much temporary."
