The jury’s still out whether Death Stranding was a success. It wasn’t quite the groundbreaking, innovative experience Sony was hoping for. It wasn’t the start of one of the next greatest video game series of all time either. After all, Kojima Productions had the impossible task of creating something in the shadow of the Metal Gear Solid series.
It was unexpected, though. And, according to an interview with Mr. Kojima, it did turn a profit, and that profit will only grow with the PC release of DS on July 14, 2020.
But a rumored budget of $100 million, combined with the fact Sony won’t release official numbers, alludes to the theory that Sony feels pretty lukewarm about the outcome. Good thing Kojima got in all his favorite actors when he could, because he might not be able to work with that high of a budget anytime soon.
But what has Kojima Productions been up to these days?
Adapting to the Coronavirus
03/30/2020
Like almost every company in existence, Kojima Productions goes remote because of an employee that tested positive. Unsurprising, but a shame nonetheless.
Winning BAFTA Awards
04/02/2020
Mr. Kojima wins the Fellowship, the highest award the BAFTA can bestow on an individual, for his contributions to the games industry. What an honor.
Death Stranding also won the Technical Achievement award. This was a good day for KP.
Delaying the Re-release
04/21/2020
Kojima Productions delays the PC launch.
Following the temporary closure of KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS, we have had to delay the PC launch of DEATH STRANDING to July 14, 2020, to allow more development time amidst the current work-from-home orders in place. Thank you all for your patience and continued support
pic.twitter.com/euOmebcdQj
— KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS (Eng) (@KojiPro2015_EN) April 21, 2020
Also unsurprising, given the jump to remote three weeks earlier. This is a very tight spot for them to be in however, since The Last of Us Part II just released, following a release date delay of their own.
Losing Their Right-hand Man
05/17/2020
After 20 years working with Kojima, one of the founding members of the studio, Ken-Ichiro Imaizumi, leaves to work at Tencent. Also unsurprising, but only because Tencent is discretely taking over the world. Someday we will all work for them.
Regardless, hopefully this doesn’t lower the quality of the studio or signal that it’s a sinking ship. I suspect they simply made Mr. Imaizumi a fantastic offer.
Sputtering New Beginnings
05/29/2020
Kojima says an unannounced project they had started was scrapped. Don’t worry Mr. Kojima. It happens to the best of us :o)
Who knows what the project idea was, but hopefully Kojima's desire to make a horror game comes to fruition soon. Critically-acclaimed horror experiences like PT are few and far in-between. In other words, while a horror game may be a good guess as to what Kojima Productions is currently working on, nobody knows for sure.
It’s been a bit of a tough year for Kojima Productions. Overall, I’m glad Death Stranding at least made a little profit. It would be a shame for Sony to lose faith in the newly formed studio, because that would probably mean the death of the studio, leaving Kojima stranded.
But thankfully, us players won’t have to lose out on more content from this once-in-a-generation game designer. Although Death Stranding won’t go down in history as one of the best games of all time like MGS, I’ve still got faith in Mr. Kojima, and can’t wait to find out what’s next.
