Death Stranding 2: On the Beach director Hideo Kojima has revealed that the game was originally planned for a 2023 release prior to facing a Pandemic-related delay.
During an interview with GQ Magazine, game director Hideo Kojima was asked to share his feelings regarding the 10-year milestone of having been independent since leaving Konami in the year 2015. He responded by saying that the last decade has been good, as it was the most important time. The thing he is most afraid of is time. He shared that he’s afraid of dying, of having dementia, of forgetting things as he gets old. He mentioned that he was 52 years old when he became independent, and now he is 61.
Kojima also brought up Covid and how the pandemic affected the development of Death Stranding 2: On the Beach. He mentioned that he was trying to shoot the upcoming action-adventure title’s opening scene, where Fragile (Léa Seydoux) comes to Sam Porter Bridges (Norman Reedus) during the spring of 2020. According to him, the game would’ve been released in the year 2023 if it hadn’t been for Covid. Due to the pandemic, Kojima was unable to scan actors and do the new casting on schedule. As a result, the development of Death Stranding 2: On the Beach faced an unexpected delay.
Recently, the Death Stranding 2: On the Beach director also revealed that the game was initially planned as DLC for the first title or something along the lines of a “Death Stranding 1.5.” The original concept explored how the Death Stranding event impacted the rest of the world, including the effect of Chiral clouds on rockets and likely space travel. The director intended to feature scenes with Fragile that would have been included at the end of the Director’s Cut, with the ending being a cliffhanger. However, due to the pandemic and the inability to record performances with both Seydoux and Norman Reedus, the DLC plans were scrapped. Kojima instead reworked the concept into a full-fledged sequel, incorporating scenes involving Fragile and Sam from the scrapped DLC into the opening of Death Stranding 2.
