In a day and age where Battle Royale games are dominating the gaming industry, Hideo Kojima is taking games in a separate direction. While talking to press and fans during his Comic-Con 2019 press conference, Hideo Kojima, the visionary game director behind games such as the Metal Gear Solid series, said that he doesn’t want his games to go the same route as Battle Royale games. Hideo Kojima also said that he is trying to do something different with Death Stranding.
Comic-Con 2019 is currently happening in San Diego and we are getting news from different game developers and the entertainment industry. Kojima fans were looking forward to his event, expecting to learn more information about Death Stranding — a game that is shrouded in mystery.
During his San Deigo Comic-Con 2019 panel, Hideo Kojima talked about his upcoming game, Death Stranding, as well as commenting on Battle Royale games such as Apex Legends, PUBG, and Fortnite.
Kalai, who was at the Hideo Kojima’s Comic-Con press conference, posted the transcript on her Twitter page. As reported by Kalai, when Kojima was asked why he is taking the approach of doing something massively different from other game developers and developing a game such as Death Stranding, he replied by saying that he wants Death Stranding to be inspiring.
Q: Why is it important to you not to make a game that’s similar to something before?
H: There’s no reason to create something that’s already there. I want to create something that gives more inspiration to the world. #DeathStranding #hideokojima— Kalai ? SDCC (@kalai_chik) July 21, 2019
In addition to this, Kojima also commented on the “easy” approach taken by game developers behind Battle Royale games such as Fortnite. According to Kojima:
“The easiest way to make money is to make a game where everyone is on an island trying to shoot each other. I don’t want to make that.”
Kojima has a touched on a very important point here. When Battle Royale games were introduced back in 2016, the concept of it was new, the gameplay was exciting, and the teamwork that multiplayer modes provided was exhilarating. But nowadays, it seems like every game developer is pushing for the Battle Royale genre and it has become somewhat saturated in 2019.
Most Battle Royale games are free to play with added microtransactions. These microtransactions are the form of monetization for the developers. This makes it very easy for game developers to earn money from games by pushing out new content for the game every few months. Death Stranding is not that. Hideo Kojima is well-known for doing something new with his games and Death Stranding is exactly that.
Death Stranding seems to put an emphasis on bringing humanity together during a time of peril. According to Kojima:
“You’re alone playing as Sam, you’re trying to connect city to city. I can’t speak much but everyone will be playing around the world and we’ll have indirect connections.”
We learned a lot about Death Stranding during this Comic-Con 2019 panel and it is likely that more information about the game will follow in the months leading up to the game’s release date. So make sure to stay tuned.
Death Stranding is being developed by Kojima Productions and Sony Interactive Entertainment exclusively for PlayStation 4. Pre-orders for the game are now open with a November 8, 2019 release date.
