Google Reportedly Passed on a Stadia-Exclusive Follow-Up to Death Stranding
Hideo Kojima was reportedly working on a follow-up to Death Stranding that was meant to be an exclusive title for Google Stadia. However, it was apparently canceled due to its single-player nature.
According to a report by 9to5Google, the next Death Stranding (there's no word on whether it was a sequel prequel, or spin-off) would not have had the first game’s collaborative and asynchronous multiplayer features, such as building bridges in your world that could show up in other players’.
This was reportedly the basis for Google’s decision to cancel the game, as the company believed that a solo experience wouldn’t sell very well. The game was reportedly in early development as Google greenlit the project, but when the company was shown mockups in 2020, the project was subsequently canceled. The final decision was reportedly made by Stadia general manager Phil Harrison.
We've contacted Kojima Productions and Google for comment.
Google announced yesterday that it would be shutting down Stadia on January 18, 2023. Thankfully, Google is offering full refunds for those who bought into the platform. It’s been a rocky road for the game streaming platform, as the first biggest sign of its decline was when Google decided to shut down its first party development studios last year.
Currently, Hideo Kojima is working on a game with Microsoft that will utilize the company’s “cutting edge technology,” particularly its cloud services. Earlier this year, Norman Reedus seemingly confirmed that a sequel to Death Stranding was also in development.
George Yang is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @yinyangfooey
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