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Source: Stadia turned down an exclusive Death Stranding follow-up from Kojima

Before Google closed it in 2021, Stadia Games and Entertainment turned down an exclusive follow-up to Hideo Kojima's Death Stranding.

9to5google.com

Before Google closed down the division in 2021, Stadia Games and Entertainment turned down the opportunity to have an exclusive follow-up to Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding.

A source has told 9to5Google that the game Kojima was working on was meant to be a Stadia-exclusive follow-up to Death Stranding, a game which initially launched as a PlayStation exclusive in 2019. Where the original Death Stranding was an asynchronous multiplayer game — where actions taken in your world can have an effect on other players, such as building signs to help others find their way — the proposed game would be strictly a single-player experience.

In fact, our source says it was that single-player nature of the game that led Google to cancel Stadia’s collaboration with Kojima, with the company believing there was no longer a market for solo experiences. Reportedly, the game had gotten initial approval from Google and had begun the early stages of development. However, shortly after the first mockups were shown in mid 2020, Google scrapped the project entirely.

Between this, and reportedly turning down the first version of the cloud/Overdose game .. Stadia REALLY didn't want to work with Kojima lol

 

[Kilau]

Death Stradia now, would have saved the service.

 

[DeepEnigma]

 

[Grildon Tundy]

Google, standing in the doorway, trying to hide the decaying corpse of Stadia behind them: "Uh, yeah, Kojima, no, uh, it's great to see you, too, you just caught us at a bad time."

 

[hemo memo]

So they spend millions on the meaningless but turned down this?

 

[SlimySnake]

Weird, but wtf were Sony and MS doing letting Kojima shop DS around like that? Snatch that up asap. Didnt Herman go to award shows with kojima after DS? Why not greenlight DS2 right away? We wouldve gotten a sequel either by now or by next year.

 

[lh032]

there wont be any difference anyway.

 

[johnjohn]

Stadia's loss is Xbox's gain.

 

[remember_spinal]

I mean, it probably wouldn’t have helped them at all. Death Stranding didn’t light the charts on fire and that was with big sony marketing and dollars spent.

 

[SJRB]

I find it more alarming that Kojima is willing to sell out to a garbage platform like Stadia with an abysmal userbase. I thought the guy had some standards.

 

[Bumblebeetuna]

Sony doesn’t own the IP?

 

[adamsapple]

I find it more alarming that Kojima is willing to sell out to a garbage platform like Stadia with an abysmal userbase. I thought the guy had some standards.

Honestly, if you've seen the way he talks, he's always wanted to make a different kind of thing. Stadia and the cloud infra would probably allow him to make that.

That being said, we have no idea how good it would have turned out, but holy shit imagine a platform holder turning down a big name like Kojima lol.

Phil must have jumped on it as soon as he got wind that Kojima was looking to partner up with someone for his wacky project.

Sony doesn’t own the IP?

It could have been a spiritual follow up under a different name. Not necessarily a Death Stranding 2.

 

[MatrixReloaded101]

Weird, but wtf were Sony and MS doing letting Kojima shop DS around like that? Snatch that up asap. Didnt Herman go to award shows with kojima after DS? Why not greenlight DS2 right away? We wouldve gotten a sequel either by now or by next year.

Kojima probably thought he would get more money from Stadia since they were new in the space and probably desperate for a big exclusive game.

 

[Markio128]

I find it more alarming that Kojima is willing to sell out to a garbage platform like Stadia with an abysmal userbase. I thought the guy had some standards.

He’s what we’d call in the UK, a slag.

 

[DR3AM]

Probably why they went with MS because of Azure. Kojima really wants to work with the cloud infrastructure.

 

[Draugoth]

Imagine a whole DS game dying alongside Stadia servers

 

[RoadHazard]

In fact, our source says it was that single-player nature of the game that led Google to cancel Stadia’s collaboration with Kojima, with the company believing there was no longer a market for solo experiences.

Fuck them, good riddance.

 

[Nankatsu]

The sequel was about Norman Redus trying to deliver multiple Stadias in order to built a solid gaming ecosystem for Google.

 

[Fermbiz]

Maybe the people Google Stadia knew Stadia had impending doom and didnt want Kojima do all that work for nothing lol

 

[RoadHazard]

Probably why they went with MS because of Azure. Kojima really wants to work with the cloud infrastructure.

For a strictly single player game? I have a hard time computing that.

 

[SoloKingRobert]

Looks like Xbox killed Stadia.

Phil Harrison is still salty about Microsoft acquiring Bethesda

 

[Topher]

"In fact, our source says it was that single-player nature of the game that led Google to cancel Stadia’s collaboration with Kojima, with the company believing there was no longer a market for solo experiences."

 

[legacy24]

so Xbox is getting a Stadia leftover?

 

[Doom85]

Stadia turning down something that might actually provide value to their system, and Kojima thinking Stadia was going to have legs?

 

[Topher]

Looks like Xbox killed Stadia.

Phil Harrison is still salty about Microsoft acquiring Bethesda

Google killed Stadia when they hired Phil Harrison to create/run Stadia.

 

[Fuz]

They really didn't believe in the project for a single second.

 

[Puscifer]

Weird, but wtf were Sony and MS doing letting Kojima shop DS around like that? Snatch that up asap. Didnt Herman go to award shows with kojima after DS? Why not greenlight DS2 right away? We wouldve gotten a sequel either by now or by next year.

It's a third party company which by his own admission was to give him more creative freedom. I have zero clue why people think he's married to Sony, if that was the case KJP would've been a first party studio this shouldn't be shocking to anyone yet it constantly is.

 

[VN1X]

I mean to be fair... I doubt Death Stranding 2 would've moved units or increased subscriptions lol. It's an amazing game but not exactly one with mass appeal is it?

 

[Morrie’s wig shop]

Kojima probably thought he would get more money from Stadia since they were new in the space and probably desperate for a big exclusive game.

That’s not how an artist thinks though…

 

[Punished Miku]

He should have offered it to Amazon as virtual training for their employees. Could probably save money onboarding all their expendable slaves.

 

[MasterCornholio]

Stadia's loss is Xbox's gain.

Don't you mean Sonys since its Death Stranding?

 

[Physiognomonics]

Kojima really missed a bullet here.

 

[angrod14]

Why would Kojima want to release his game exclusively on that POS? People have no self respect nowadays.

 

[Hawking Radiation]

Why would you pitch anything to Stadia
And why would Google turn down Kojima

 

[Zones]

Probably why they went with MS because of Azure. Kojima really wants to work with the cloud infrastructure.

More like: Kojima really wants to work with a company that has a very big pocket.

 

[midnightAI]

Sorry, calling bull on this one, he may well have been working on 'something' for Stadia (and that something may now be a new MS game), but there is no way its the follow up to Death Stranding, Sony own the IP

 

[MiguelItUp]

Maybe they knew it wouldn't be worth the advancement because of Stadia's "success" or lack thereof.

I saw a number of devs state that they had their game projected to release on Stadia within the next couple of months, and then this happened. They didn't get a heads up, or anything. That's insane to me, lol.

 

[MasterCornholio]

Sorry, calling bull on this one, he may well have been working on 'something' for Stadia (and that something may now be a new MS game), but there is no way its the follow up to Death Stranding, Sony own the IP

I'm thinking rumors are just getting mixed up here.

 

[Arcadialane]

''A source has told 9to5Google''

Is this place reputable?

 

[Lunarorbit]

How many times do these companies have to learn that the player base and enthusiasm is huge for single player games?

Its so insane. Not only does it not make intuitive sense but also business sense. It's been seen over and over again this and last gen since this ridiculous sentiment took hold. Gow, horizon, elden ring, zeldas, marios, ass greeds, forza, etc.

Years of evidence that they ignore

 

[balls of snow]

No market for single player games eh.
*Looks at elden ring * Looks at cyberpunk resurgance * Looking ahead at gow ragnarok...

Yep you deserve to fail stadia.

 

[Barlow]

The sequel was about Norman Redus trying to deliver multiple Stadias in order to built a solid gaming ecosystem for Google.

And Steam Deck 2 after that

 

[Punished Miku]

''A source has told 9to5Google''

Is this place reputable?

It's not about Xbox or PS so it checks out.

 

[SSfox]

Turning down a Kojima game, simply means you don't belong to the gaming industry, good riddance.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Weird, but wtf were Sony and MS doing letting Kojima shop DS around like that? Snatch that up asap. Didnt Herman go to award shows with kojima after DS? Why not greenlight DS2 right away? We wouldve gotten a sequel either by now or by next year.

The whole situation with Kojima is weird

It’s been 3 years since DS

We should be getting a game from them in the next year or two

But all we have is radio silence

 

[Punished Miku]

The whole situation with Kojima is weird

It’s been 3 years since DS

We should be getting a game from them in the next year or two

But all we have is radio silence

We got glasses and a watch though.

 

[johnjohn]

Don't you mean Sonys since its Death Stranding?

Sony owns the Death Stranding IP, this is talking about his game after Death Stranding.

The whole situation with Kojima is weird

It’s been 3 years since DS

We should be getting a game from them in the next year or two

But all we have is radio silence

I wouldn't call it radio silence, he just announced his partnership with Xbox.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Sony owns the Death Stranding IP, this is talking about his game after Death Stranding.


I wouldn't call it radio silence, he just announced his partnership with Xbox.

That’s pretty much radio silence

He should have a big AAA game well into production with something to show

 

[CeeJay]

so Xbox is getting a Stadia leftover?

High on Life was originally a Stadia exclusive if i remember rightly, now coming to Xbox.

 

[Dr. Samuel Hayden]

Wowzers.