Sunday, November 24, 2024

Kojima Productions Reportedly Gains Full Control Of Death Stranding IP

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Image: SIE / 505 Games

Seemingly out of nowhere, Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding has been launched on Xbox Series X|S and Amazon Luma via publisher 505 Games. The game was once exclusive to PlayStation following significant support from Sony alongside collaboration with Guerrilla Games via the Decima Engine. A PC release followed soon after, with a Director’s Cut also arriving in 2021 for PS5 and 2022 for PC.

Now, according to a report from Automaton, developer Kojima Productions has supposedly gained full control of the IP, thus significantly raising the possibility of a release on even more platforms later down the line. Perhaps even the ‘Switch 2’..?

A launch on the current Switch family of systems seems somewhat unlikely given the graphical capability of the game; particularly if it’s the Director’s Cut specifically that’s being ported to new platforms. However, we certainly wouldn’t rule out a release on Nintendo’s upcoming successor to the Switch. In a press release, Hideo Kojima stated “Kojima Productions (Death Stranding) will continue to connect more and more players around the world, so please stay tuned”.

The game itself stars Norman Reedus as Sam Bridges, a porter who’s tasked with reforming America by connecting isolated settlements to the ‘Chiral Network’. Along the way, he contends with creepy ‘BT’ enemies and a formidable antagonist known as Higgs (Troy Baker). Reception was largely positive, but it’s safe to say that the slow, methodical gameplay in which you carefully traverse the environment while carrying a shedload of boxes was somewhat divisive.

Kojima is perhaps best known for his work on the Metal Gear franchise, but left Konami after a very public (yet somehow still rather secretive) fall out. Konami has since revived its support of the brand with a release of Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 and an upcoming remake of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. Meanwhile, Kojima Productions is hard at work on Death Stranding 2: On The Beach; a direct sequel to Death Stranding that is, at the time of writing, still exclusive to the PS5.

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