Hideo Kojima's fabled USB stick full of ideas contingency plan has been put aside, as it was actually put in place during a 2020 health scare long before Death Stranding 2's release

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The idea behind it was to give Kojima Productions something to build from in the immediate aftermath

Death Stranding 2 screenshot
(Image credit: Kojima Productions)

Hideo Kojima has addressed comments made ahead of Death Stranding 2's release about him leaving a USB stick full of ideas to his staff to be used when he dies, clarifying it was actually something that was put into place when he had a health scare during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Ahead of Death Stranding 2's release, Hideo Kojima was pretty introspective in interviews. He did a big interview called "The life and death of Hideo Kojima," where he admitted he fears death regularly. However, for as much as people paint him as self-obsessed due to the overabundance of credits for himself in the likes of Metal Gear Solid 5, he's spoken about the fear of Kojima Productions failing and his staff being out of work.

Kojima admits the USB stick plan actually came about when he got "seriously ill" during the Covid-19 pandemic, when he was worried about his studio and making sure the staff would continue to get paid if he was unable to make games. He adds that he put all the ideas he saved up onto a USB stick, saying: "If I get sick and can’t make games, please use this."

Scott McCrae
Scott McCrae
Contributor

Scott has been freelancing for over three years across a number of different gaming publications, first appearing on GamesRadar+ in 2024. He has also written for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, VG247, Play, TechRadar, and others. He's typically rambling about Metal Gear Solid, God Hand, or any other PS2-era titles that rarely (if ever) get sequels.

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