Death Stranding 2 Changed Mid-Development Because It Was Liked Too Much by Testers

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach must be a good game to sell and keep Kojima Productions as a successful company. However, according to director and founder Hideo Kojima, the second chapter of Sam Porter Bridges’ post-apocalyptic adventures should not be too good, as it might end up being too “mainstream” — that is, appealing to a broader, more general audience.

Unfortunately for Kojima, the initial playtest reactions were too positive for his taste. As a result, he decided to change the game halfway through development to prevent it from being liked too much.

Kojima’s Collaboration and the Changes Made

This information comes from an interview with Yoann “Woodkid” Lemoine, who worked closely with Kojima on the soundtrack for Death Stranding 2: On the Beach. Lemoine reveals that Kojima confessed to him that the testers were enjoying Death Stranding 2 too much, which meant that “something was wrong” and that they had to change something.

According to Lemoine’s testimony, Kojima said: “I’m going to be very honest, we have been testing the game with players and the results are too good. They like it too much. That means something is wrong; we have to change something.”

Kojima then altered some crucial elements in the game because he believes his work should provoke mixed opinions and stir strong emotions. According to Kojima, if everyone likes your work, it means it’s too mainstream, too conventional.

Kojima doesn’t want to create works of that kind. As Lemoine explains, Kojima wants people to “end up liking things they didn’t like when they first encountered it.”