No matter what reactions a Hideo Kojima game elicits from you, we can all appreciate swinging for the fences. Death Stranding is the sort of game that, in our profoundly risk-averse business, should have never gotten the sizable Sony-backed budget it did, but such is the power of Kojima's name.
Still, I have to imagine someone at Sony broke a sweat when they learned they were funding a delivery simulator that's light on action and heavy on contemplative vistas, especially considering how the first Death Stranding tested before it came out. In a recent interview with Edge Magazine (as shared by GamesRadar), Kojima revealed that most playtesters were repulsed by his post-Konami debut.
"I did a lot of monitoring tests for the first Death Stranding. I'd find that four out of ten people would love the game, and six would say it was a terrible game," he said.
They weren't mixed, and they did not find redeeming qualities in Death Stranding's cool gadgets or cooler peeing mechanic—60% of testers hated it. That's the sort of feedback that'd have me hammering backspace and starting all over, but Kojima went on to say that 40% approval is "a good balance."
Noting that big studio movies often require 80% approval before releasing, Kojima said, "I don't want to make games like that. I'm not interested in appealing to the mass market, or selling millions of copies. That's not what I'm aiming for."
In fact, he seems disappointed that those same playtests for Death Stranding 2 are way more positive, to the extent that he wishes "it was a bit more controversial." Sounds backward, but I know what he's getting at. The first Death Stranding relished in its inscrutability, what with all the Beached Things jargon and its slow-paced, sometimes hardcore hiking gameplay. It was the last thing you'd expect from your favorite director of stealth action games.
It's a testament to creative independence that Death Stranding came out, was as divisive as playtesters warned, but still found an audience, most of whom weren't looking for a post-apocalyptic hiking simulator. I did not know that I'd want to spend 200 hours scanning a mountain looking for the least treacherous rock to step on until such an opportunity arose. And despite Kojima's wishes, it did lead to selling millions of copies (which he must not mind, considering it earned him another big budget to make what he wants).
On the flip side, the almost universally positive buzz around Death Stranding 2 might have Kojima worried he's made an incremental sequel—more of what people liked, but not as unexpected or surprising as the original. More of the same (but better) is exactly what I want out of Death Stranding 2.
He might not admit to caring about the mass market, but he clearly cares about satisfying fans. The Metal Gear creator's career is one of balancing expectations with experimentation—a struggle that he's worn on his sleeve for decades.
