Death Stranding is “slightly” behind schedule, according to director Hideo Kojima, with a release date for the upcoming PlayStation game having yet to be confirmed. Kojima noted that the game is not yet in the “adjustment stage,” though added that “it is assembled” even if development has fallen behind of his original plans.
“Many studios lag behind the planned release date,” Kojima said in an interview with Japanese site j-wave. He added that the Death Stranding release date “has been slightly out of the initial plan, but not much delayed.” However, considering that we still don’t know when Kojima intended to release Death Stranding in the first place, the extent of this delay is unclear.
Previously, Kojima said that Death Stranding would be out “before the Olympics,” referring to the Tokyo 2020 games. However, the director also claimed that the game would be out “before the year in which Akira is set,” and considering that the cyberpunk film is set in 2019, either Kojima has been duping us or his plans for Death Stranding have fallen behind schedule on a number of occasions.
Elsewhere in the interview, Kojima stated that he hasn’t compromised his vision of Death Stranding in order to meet a release date for the game, along with discussing the impact streaming will have on video games. The Metal Gear creator said that “entertainment will change in around 5 years,” adding that he wants to see games eventually catching up to movies in terms of how they’re distributed. He also stated that he personally wants to help with advancements made towards this future.
Kojima fans will be disappointed that Death Stranding is facing a delay, even if its initial release date was never known in the first place. At this point, it seems increasingly likely that it will release on the PS5 as well as the PS4, with Sony’s new console rumored to launch in 2020.
