Previously, some reports indicated that Death Stranding may have been a sales bomb. However, in a recent interview, Hideo Kojima — head of Kojima Productions — notes that Death Stranding has performed well enough to be considered a “success.” In other words, the game has recouped all losses and performed well on the market to fund Kojima’s next project.
According to the U.S. NPD Group and the firm’s numbers for December 2019, Death Stranding did not place in the top 20 in its second month on the market. Nevertheless, the game also was reported to have dropped down to eighth place on the PlayStation Charts.
Although the above information paints a grim picture for Death Stranding, in a new interview on website livedoor.com translated by videogameschronicle.com, we learn that Kojima considers the numbers that Death Stranding pulled in on PS4 to be enough to be considered a “successful” title:
“We’ve absolutely crossed the line we needed to cross to be in the black, including recovering development costs, so I’d call it a successful result. We still have the PC release coming up, and we’ve secured enough to begin preparing for our next project, so there’s no need to worry.”
Sadly, no numbers or figures surfaced during the interview, which means we have to go by Kojima’s word on the situation and what he considers to be a success regarding a new IP’s performance out in the wild.
What we can gather from the report by the latter site is that Kojima makes mention of Death Stranding passing the number of sales the team needed to make a profit. Also, the game was able to recoup development costs.
In addition to the above, Kojima Productions plans on releasing the PC version of Death Stranding on July 14th, 2020, and has secured enough money from the working title to help with the company’s next project.
On the topic of Kojima Productions’ next project, it’s still in the early planning stages. However, Kojima is actively working on the company’s next game “on the down-low.”
Furthermore, the company just recently canceled a major project, which pissed off Kojima. Both the canceled and new game have no relation to the rumor that Kojima Productions is trying to acquire the rights to Metal Gear Solid and Silent Hill.
And lastly, as per Kojima, the rumors are not correct, and he’s heard nothing internally about resurrecting the Metal Gear Solid or Silent Hill games.
