Google reportedly turned down a Stadia-exclusive Death Stranding successor

Google reportedly turned down a Stadia-exclusive tracking for Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding.

According to a new report from 9to5google, the project received initial approval, but since it was intended to be a strictly single-player experience (instead of asynchronous multiplayer in Death Stranding), the Kojima collaboration was canceled as Google believed it there was no longer a market for single-player games.

Although it reached the early stages of development, the project was reportedly canceled by Stadia CEO Phil Harrison in mid-2020 after initial mockups.

The news appears to match a 2021 VGC report that Google was working on various third-party projects, including a Kojima Productions project believed to be an episodic horror game.

This report was denied by a Google Stadia spokesperson at the time, saying it “didn’t have anything, or announced anything, with Kojima or Yu Suzuki” and that talking to potential project partners was “very common”.

Although Death Stranding was released exclusively on PlayStation in 2019, a PC release followed in 2020. Director’s Cut releases later appeared on both platforms.

Yesterday, Google announced that it was going to shut down its Stadia streaming service.

A number of games exclusive to the service are now at risk of being lost if not ported to other platforms.

The Stadia developer still working on games expressed shock at the sudden news.