Sony’s Kojima problem
I will start out by saying that I am not the biggest PlayStation fan. Mainly because I haven’t owned one since the original PlayStation which I bought because I didn’t have room for a PC where I was and a friend of mine had one. It wasn’t my preferred gaming platform then, and I bought a PC as soon as I was able. There was nothing wrong with it as such but I only found a few games that interested me and I was much more comfortable and had more options on the PC. I don’t hate PlayStation but I do prefer Microsoft’s output as well as their addition of PC into their ecosystem and feel that PlayStation has moved away from a gaming company to a 100% money driven entity with little to no regard for their fans. Having said that, I really don’t think PlayStation is wrong in getting out of the swirling vortex that is created around Hideo Kojima.
I loved the Metal Gear Solid games I played. I can’t remember which ones I played or where I played them but I do remember hearing ‘Snake, Snake Snaaaaakkkkee’ too many times to count. The characters and story were absurd and the 427 degree turns it took as you careered through it’s convoluted narrative like the ball in a Metal Gear Solid pinball machine were enjoyably jarring. But Death Stranding is not Metal Gear Solid. Although these games have their fans I found them really boring mixed with some of that old Kojima flare. There were too many tedious bits and I couldn’t say I found the walking, driving and building in the game particularly relaxing or zen like. I feel there was a really good game in there but it was missing something for me. I initially watched someone play through the game and had to force myself through it to see the climax of the story but I did later try it myself when it was given away free on Epic and when it was on Game Pass. I attempted to find whatever it was that people liked in the game but failed to do so.
While playing the game I wanted to engage with the story and the meat of the game. The writing was trying a little too hard and not quite hitting for me (I am fragile but not too fragile??). I wish they had stuck Kojima in a room and allowed him to go wild with mechanics and story, and then let someone else go over it to tidy up the writing and smooth the rough edges from the gameplay and remove the unnecessary bits that do not add to the game. I really think there is a great game in there, but there were also just too many hurdles to climb over while playing the game, figuratively and metaphorically. There was just too much busy work to be getting on with that was repetitive and unenjoyable. And with that I conclude my overly short and imprecise TLDR review of Death Stranding.
For these reasons I never bought it when it finally came to PC, which I feel was another mistake by PlayStation not releasing it day and date. But I digress while once again on my usual anti-exclusive high horse. But the game reportedly sold 10mil plus copies and topped 20mil player count when it was released for free on the Epic Games Store and Gamer Pass. I think this shows there was an interest for the game but something stopped 50% of the total player base from buying the game. The second game not so much. It is reported that it has sold only (only??) 2.5mil copies to date a figure that the previous game had doubled at the same point in its lifetime. Most of these sales were recorded in the first 2 months of release. A drop in sales is usual for a sequel, but a 50% drop is excessive. The games were critically well received with both Metacritic and OpenCritic sitting around 89-90 on both the critic and user scores for both games. But most importantly it didn’t sell as well as it needed to. The budgets for the games are reported to be around $100mil for the first game and $150-$200mil for the second game. With the second game’s revenue sitting around $170mil, it hasn’t performed nearly well enough to justify the budget nor does it seem to have had the usual Kojima pull.
Move now onto Physint and I feel Sony are not in the business of taking chances anymore. Their whole gameplan for this generation has been to aim for definitive hits (apparently) including games they felt were sure things. They bankrolled games that were sequels, remakes and of course live service. I don’t want to go into whether Sony’s current strategy is sound or the right way to go as it is irrelevant to the Kojima discussion, but the fact that they are focussing in those directions is important. They are not interested in seeing a game not do so well and then giving the developers and creators another crack of the whip, irrelevant of who they are. All you need to do is look at their game cancellations and studio closures. I am aware that these are not PlayStation specific strategies but again for this discussion it is relevant to where they are willing to put their money.
We don’t know the budget for Physint so far. Microsoft may be getting in at a good time with PlayStation already having bankrolled Kojima this far, their monetary input may prove to be minimal for the project at least compared to a usual Kojima production. When we are speaking multiple hundreds of millions for a Kojima game, depending on where production is it could turn out to be a sound investment. With Death Stranding reportedly having a majority share of it’s players on Steam in China (27% for DS1 and a whopping 44% for DS2) this could be another push from XBOX to get into the lucrative Asian marketplace. They may be willing to take the monetary hit in order to get XBOX attention in a market they have repeatedly struggled with.
I am not sure that this is a great move for XBOX as Kojima has become a little to erratic in his appeal to the gaming public. Moreso I oddly find this to be more of a Phil Spencer thing to do than something I would expect Asha Sharma to do. There are people who just love anything Kojima creates (and good on you), but business these days isn’t about catching those fans but rather roping in everyone else. 2.5mil sales is just not enough to justify the kind of money Kojima is asking for. As my mother always says it is easier to spend someone else’s money and Kojima is really good at that. The simultaneous release on PC may turn out to be beneficial if XBOX follows it’s usual release program, especially if it catches those Death Stranding fans in China. It is also worth mentioning that Physint was only due to start production after the release on Death Stranding 2, so it could only be in early production.
PlayStation has made the sound business decision to cut ties with Kojima. A $100mil game taking 7yrs to reach 10mil sales, followed by a reduction of 50% in sales at the same lifetime point for the sequel compared to its predecessor and the entire series having possibly just broken even overall, makes sense on pretty much every spreadsheet I can imagine. The new game may turn out to be the best game ever made, it may be Kojima at his Metal Gear Solid best, but based on recent history there is little there to justify taking that risk financially, especially with the games industry in its current form and financial pressures everywhere.
I hope Physint brings Kojima back to the form that made him a name in the industry, as I am always interested in any game he makes. With OD and this in production there is scope for him to reignite gamers love for his games. But he needs to get his budgets under control, smooth the rough edges to his mechanics and writing and tighten up the games he makes as there is significant unnecessary bloat. I will be paying close attention to this partnership as the espionage genre is where Kojima cut his teeth and could be the catalyst to piquing my interest again.