When a game performs well, developers and publishers typically fall over themselves to boast in a press release or video announcement. And boast they should; after all, producing a successful video game is no easy feat. However, there have been no such celebrations concerning Death Stranding, which hit PlayStation 4 in November 2019. But, reportedly, the title was at least profitable for Kojima Productions.
Hideo Kojima himself noted as much in an interview with Liverdoor News. Upon being asked about Death Stranding’s sales performance, Kojima responded as follows (via Gematsu),
We surpassed the amount we needed to make a profit, so I think it sold well enough to be called a ‘success,’ recoupment of development costs included. We’ll release the PC version soon and have already secured enough profit to prepare for what’s next, so there’s no need to worry.
While Kojima couldn’t divulge specifics regarding his and the team’s next project, he revealed it remains in the “planning stages.” The developer also made note that “a big project fell apart” recently, but was unable to offer further details. What he did address were rumors concerning his potentially acquiring the rights to P.T./Silent Hills and Metal Gear Solid. On that matter, Kojima simply stated, “Ah, that’s completely false. I haven’t heard anything about it at least.” Konami recently discredited similar claims about Silent Hill’s future.
Discourse on Death Stranding’s perceived failure in terms of sales has been ongoing for months. Such talk is most notably fueled by gamstat listings that suggest the title’s number of players on PlayStation 4 sits at about 3.2 million. Since gamstat only takes players into consideration, it’s possible Death Stranding hasn’t sold as many millions. There exists no way of clarifying how many of those players were logged due to rented, borrowed, or used copies, for example.
Death Stranding is in stores now for the PlayStation 4. A PC version will launch on July 14th.
[Source: Livedoor News via Gematsu]
