Kojima 'Glad' He Announced Death Stranding in 2016

By Jasmine Henry 30 December 2016

• ps4
• kojima productions
• sony
• death stranding

Veteran video game developer Hideo Kojima says that 2016 was a ‘tumultuous’ year, but despite this, Kojima is ‘glad’ that he could announce his upcoming video game, Death Stranding.

2015 was one hectic year for video game developer Hideo Kojima. Following a very public spat with the publisher as well as allegations that the company subjected its employees to poor work conditions, Kojima officially left Konami. Even after he’d left, Kojima was banned from attending The Game Awards 2015, where he had been set to pick up an award.

However, it doesn’t sound as though 2016 gave the veteran game developer much time to kick back and relax, either. In a duo of tweets discussing the year he’s had, Kojima calls 2016 “tumultuous,” explaining that he had to establish a new studio, hiring crews, finding a new game engine (he chose Decima, which is also used by Horizon Zero Dawn), and planning his new game, Death Stranding, which was announced at E3 in June.

There was also the casting (Norman Reedus and Mads Mikkelsen both play characters in the game) and what Kojima calls “building the new spaceship Enterprise.” Everything had to be done “at once,” explains Kojima, though despite how chaotic and busy the year was, he is still “glad” that he was able to announce Death Stranding.

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The year of 2016 was such a tumultuous year. Establishing the studio, planning the new game, hiring crews, finding the new base & engine pic.twitter.com/dle4uPgqxd

— HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) December 29, 2016

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casting, building the new spaceship Enterprise. Everything had to do at once but overall I'm glad that I could announce DEATH STRANDING. pic.twitter.com/OVB9QVVLpP— HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) December 29, 2016

With many looking on the recently released Death Stranding trailers with awe, plenty of fans are glad that Kojima revealed the game too. His departure from Konami meant that it was unlikely that Kojima would ever work on the Metal Gear Solid series again and so plenty were excited to see the famed developer’s next project in action.

Unfortunately for Kojima, though, 2017 will likely be just as eventful as 2015 and 2016 combined. While the announcement of his new game (and the fight to keep Death Stranding under wraps) means that one of the biggest parts of the game’s journey to release has passed, there’s still plenty left to do.

For starters, Kojima will need to find a way to explain the game’s plot as even Mads Mikkelsen has said that he has been ‘baffled’ by Death Stranding‘s story and he plays the game’s main antagonist. Moreover, Death Stranding is aiming for photorealistic graphics and although the game’s trailers – with its glowing babies and its fleshy tanks – seem to suggest that the game is well on its way towards that, there’s still more to do.

The game is set to launch sometime before the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, though, so if Kojima decides to take it easy next year, there should still be enough time to complete the game’s development in time.

Death Stranding is currently in development for PS4.