Hideo Kojima was working on another game before Death Stranding: "I will probably never come back to it"

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The auteur also admits he starting casting for Death Stranding without even knowing what the game would be

(Image credit: Kojima Productions)

Hideo Kojima may seem like he knows something about the universe that we don't, but the fact is that he's just as human as the rest of us. The game developer has seen his fair share of disappointments, after all, and it turns out that Death Stranding is merely the product of several. 

In an interview with French YouTuber Julian Chièze (translated in its entirety by Reddit here) during Gamescom 2019, in which a whole load of new Death Stranding gameplay was shown, the famed Metal Gear creator admitted that the journey to his latest project did not come about easily. 

"In 2016 we were a handful of people in a tiny office, and in June of the same year we started game design, casting without even knowing the whole game", Kojima reveals. "It’s like a marathon, where the middle is the hardest part. The start is easy, everyone is full of energy, then in the middle you cannot see the end, and it feels like there is no end, and it’s a terribly draining. But honestly, the closer we get to the end, the more we see that arrival, which gives us extra strength." 

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(Image credit: 2K Games / Microsoft Xbox / EA Games / Activision)

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Kojima then goes on to reveal that he worked on another project under his new PlayStation studio before Death Stranding, but had to cancel it for unknown reasons: "I had many ideas and concepts, but to be honest Death Stranding was not the first idea, it was literally the last. There was another game that I had to abandon and I will probably never come back to it. So that is how Death Stranding was born."

If the news that the creator of one of the most beloved game series of all time has had to stumble repeatedly to make it to where he is today doesn't inspire you, I don't know what will. Goodness knows if we'll ever learn more about the mystery game that Kojima was working on before Death Stranding, but it sounds like that's water under the bridge as far as he's concerned. 

But can we really complain when the creator's next game is out in literally just a few months time? We saw Death Stranding for ourselves at Gamescom last week, and we think we finally have a good idea of what's going on, too, so have a read of our thoughts, and try not to get excited. 

For more, check out the best PS4 games to play right now, or watch our Release Radar video below for a guide to everything else out this week. 

Alex Avard
Alex Avard

Alex is a former Features Writer at GamesRadar, which once made him responsible for gracing the internet with as many of my words as possible, including reviews, previews, interviews, and more. Lucky internet!