Earlier this year, Hideo Kojima admitted that he felt conflicted about the positive reception that Death Stranding 2: On the Beach received from game testers. At the time, Kojima said that he doesn’t want to make blockbusters that „need an 80% approval rating“ and preferred to remain controversial. Now, Kojima has revisited his comments and explained why he wants a divisive response from players.
While speaking through his interpreter, Kojima Productions‘ Aki Saito, Kojima told Game Informer that the reason he doesn’t want a blockbuster is because those are the kind of games that are easily forgotten. Instead, he wants Death Stranding 2 to withstand the test of time over the next few decades.
„Recently, all the entertainment things are like easy to chew, easy to digest,“ explained Kojima. „But with Death Stranding, I thought it needs people who love it, and people who don’t love it because it’s a new thing. It’s the same as Metal Gear. It took 10 years until Metal Gear was recognized as a good game. For Death Stranding 2, when I tested it, it wasn’t like that. Everyone liked it. That’s why I said, ‚Maybe this is a problem.‘ It was more [liked] than my prediction.“