Kojima Productions’ action-adventure cargo game “Death Stranding 2: On the Beach” will be launched on PS5 in June. Several new gameplay and story details for DS 2 surfaced with a preview of the game released on Thursday. Game director and studio head Hideo Kojima also revealed new details about Death Stranding 2’s story and gameplay ideas, and explained why the game was released in June during a busy year for gaming. Hideo Kojima said Death Stranding 2: The Beach will be released next month to avoid conflict with other Sony games set to launch this year.
Death Stranding 2 release window explained
According to IGN, Kojima explained the decision to release Death Stranding 2 in June during the latest episode of TBS Podcast’s Koji 10 radio show. During the Japan show, the industry veteran answered audience questions about why the game is targeting a June release window instead of September.
Hideo Kojima said (via IGN) that the release date decision wasn’t entirely up to him, but was influenced by other games’ expected release windows. Kojima said that in the case of DS 2, the release date had been decided a long time ago.
“Sony, for example, has a variety of other games coming out,” the games director said. “So, we can’t overlap with other games. The same goes for movies. This decision (about the release date of Death Stranding 2) was made a long time ago.”
Kojima’s comments indicate that Sony, the publisher of Death Stranding 2, does not want the game to be released close to other first-party games. If it launches in September, the Death Stranding sequel would follow in the footsteps of Sucker Punch’s Soul of the Rams, which will launch exclusively on PS5 on October 2.
Sam Porter-Bridges will deliver more of the goods in Death Stranding 2
Image source: Sony/Kojima Productions
Games launching in 2025
There are several other major game launches between June and October, including Konami’s Metal Gear Delta: Snake Eater, a remake of Hideo Kojima’s classic spy game Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. The game will be available on PS5, PC and Xbox Series S/X on August 28th. Just one day later, the action game “Lost Soul Aside” published by Sony was launched on PS5 and PC.
Rogue Factor’s action-adventure game Hell is Us will launch on September 4, while Sony’s live shooter Marathon will launch later this month, on September 23.
Even though Grand Theft Auto 6 has been delayed until 2026, Take-Two has a busy release schedule this year. Borderlands 4 was originally scheduled to be released on September 23, but developer Gearbox pushed the release date to September 12. On Thursday, 2K announced that Mafia: The Old Country will be released on August 8.
The late-June release window saw Death Stranding 2: The Beach clearly out of control, with no major releases coming in July.
Death Stranding 2 will have more combat than the first game, but it’ll be optional
Image source: Sony/Kojima Productions
Death Stranding 2 is still in discussions about delivery
In a separate interview with IGN published on Thursday, Kojima also talked about the gameplay concepts behind Death Stranding 2. While the first game focused on players transporting precious cargo from point A to point B as they traversed challenging terrain, previews indicate that Death Stranding 2 will involve a lot more combat.
However, Hideo Kojima said that combat is still an auxiliary game feature in “Death Stranding 2”. “I’m not simply pushing combat. The game is still essentially cargo transport, but combat has become more flexible,” he said in an interview. “Players can choose to take a detour around enemies or use a car or motorcycle to avoid encountering them.”
Death Stranding 2: The Beach will be released exclusively on PS5 on June 26. The game will continue the story of Sam Porter Bridges, who attempts to reconnect various human settlements in a post-apocalyptic world. It’s available for pre-order on the PlayStation Store.
