Stadia passed on a Death Stranding Follow-Up because of singleplayer.
Google Stadia couldn’t get a foothold in the gaming industry, partly due to a series of bad decisions. A recent report by 9to5Google reveals one of such decisions.
Hideo Kojima, the creator of the Metal Gear Solid franchise, was collaborating with Google to develop a follow-up of the hit yet niche title, Death Stranding. The supposed game would have been exclusive to Stadia if developed to its completion.
Kojima Productions allegedly showed a mockup of the project to Google in mid-2022. However, Stadia’s General Manager Phil Harrison canceled the entire thing.
The follow-up would have been strictly single-player, unlike Death Stranding, which features asynchronous multiplayer. Google wasn’t a fan of that because of the belief that single-player games don’t have a market anymore.
This sentiment has been proven wrong time and time again, especially with the success of titles like God of War, The Last of Us Part II, and Control. A few years back, EA held the same misconception, but now, they themselves are creating several single-player games.
It was probably a good thing that the Death Stranding follow-up was canned by Google. Otherwise, the game would have been exclusive to a platform that didn’t last long anyway.
