Hideo Kojima apparently doesnotwantDeath Stranding 2: On the Beachto be unanimously beloved. Hilariously,he even seems kinda disappointedthat test reviews have been extremely positive.
In an interview with Edge Magazine reported on by VGC, Kojima said that, while he does take feedback on how to improve his games' controls, he isn’t interested in changing the ideas or narrative to reach a broader base of players.
“Of course, I want people to play my game, so I must listen to them to a certain extent. But also, I’m not interested in making something that appeals to everyone,” he said.
“Sony is pleased [with the test reviews], of course, but I do wish it was a bit more controversial. Blockbuster films need an 80 percent approval rating – 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.”
It’s Funny, But It’s True
On the one hand, that’s a funny thing for a game director tojust say. Gaming culture fixates on review scores more than any other medium, and I don’t think it’s particularly close. When I was growing up, fans got angry thatThe Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princessscored slightly below a 10/10 in Nintendo Power (a 9.5 for the record). Sight unseen, the games players are most hyped formustbe validated by critics.
In an era when there are fewer and fewer major outlets writing about games, PR campaigns are still searching for review scores so they can display all the 9s and 10s their game earned in ads. Now, those reviews are just from random outlets with names like God’s Special Little Player and GameBarf. The desire to project unanimous critical praise has outlasted many of the outlets that doled it out.
So Kojima’s attitude flies in the face of video game culture’s long-lasting obsession with perfect scores but, to an extent, it’s easy to see where that obsession comes from. Companies likeBethesda have tied bonuses to a game’s Metacritic score, so sometimes there’s money on the line for regular developers. And when games take half a decade to make and cost as much as MCU movies, one would-be blockbuster selling poorly can tank a studio.
And, unlike film, games are a medium where the biggest blockbusters also tend to be among the most critically acclaimed works. Blockbuster movies have often been ‘Critic Proof’. It’s the reason the Transformers movies have made billions of dollars despite only two (Michael Bay’s 2007 original and 2024’s Transformers One) landing in the green on Metacritic. ButElden Ring,The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, andBaldur’s Gate 3were the most acclaimed games of their respective years and also among the best-selling.
And in games, a potential blockbuster, even one in a well-liked series like Saints Row, will likely falter if it doesn’t deliver. That isn’t to say that critics make or break games. Far from it — if that were true, Kentucky Route Zero would have done Cyberpunk 2077 numbers. Rather, in a medium like games, where visceral enjoyment is so prized, critics and players tend to enjoy the same games. As a member of the press, I can confirm that I am as hyped forGTA 6as the general public.
Fun Vs. Friction
But these are business concerns, and Kojima’s comments come from the perspective of an artist. He wants to make something not just great, but thematically challenging. That’s often incompatible with universal praise. Doing something interesting can put off audience members who want to play something familiar, comforting, or straightforwardly fun.
It’s the reason that a certain death at the beginning of The Last of Us Part 2 permanently turned a subset of players against the game; that some players will never get on-board with Red Dead Redemption 2’s kinda wonky realism; that some Zelda fans are still mad about weapon breakability in Breath of the Wild. If a game isn’t immediately satisfying, many players will turn against it.
By going for something beyond the familiar in an expensive triple-A game, Kojima is inviting a wide audience to attempt to get on his wavelength. That seems like it would naturally lead to some rejecting the game’s stranger aspects. But that doesn’t seem to be happening — at least not in these test reviews or in the extensive preview sessions Kojima Productions conducted recently. The fact that players seem to be near-universally enjoying Death Stranding 2 is strange, but it has me all the more curious to see how Kojima and team pulled it off.
