New Death Stranding sequel report is mired in years of speculation and rumor

gamesradar.com:

A new report claims a Death Stranding sequel was intended to be a Google Stadia exclusive, and past comments and reports surrounding Kojima Productions paint an interesting picture.

Earlier today, 9to5Google (opens in new tab) published a report which claimed Death Stranding 2 was originally intended to be exclusive to Google Stadia. The report, which only cites a single source, claimed that the sequel would ditch the online functions of the original Death Stranding, which is ultimately what caused Google Stadia general manager Phil Harrison to cancel the deal to fund the sequel.

What's interesting is that last year in 2021, a report from VGC (opens in new tab) also claimed Kojima Productions was developing a horror game for Google Stadia. A Death Stranding sequel was never mentioned in the report, but instead claimed Kojima had pitched an "episodic horror game" to Google, which was eventually blocked by Harrison in 2020.

This report lines up with previous comments from Kojima. In 2020 in an interview with Livedoor News (opens in new tab) (and translated by GamesRadar+), Kojima revealed that a "big project" had just recently fallen through. Kojima's comments of a game being cancelled relatively recently in 2020 line up with VGC's report, which also claimed a Kojima-led game had been cancelled that year.

Obviously, Kojima never made mention of Google being the one to cancel the project, or that the project was either an episodic horror game or a Death Stranding sequel. 

Then there's the debacle surrounding Overdose. Earlier this year in June, a new report claimed knowledge of a new Kojima-led horror game featuring Death Stranding actor Margaret Qualley. Shortly after publication, the original reporter was contacted by