Trump, Brexit, and Movies: Hideo Kojima's Death Stranding Media Tour Has Been a Fun Ride So Far

It is Death Stranding's launch week, which means Kojima Productions has been on something of a media tour for the last round of promotion before its independent debut hits shelves. Between a number of quotes in a BBC documentary and other places, Kojima isn't just talking about Death Stranding, but what the future looks like for his now-established studio.

In a mini-doc for the BBC, Kojima expanded on the influences behind Death Stranding, most notably from real-world politics. Kojima notes that Trump and Brexit are two modern issues that reflect things he's addressing in Death Stranding: people building walls and thinking only of themselves.

"In Death Stranding we're using bridges to represent connection—there are options to use them or break them," Kojima says. "It's about making people think about the meaning of connection."

Of course, Kojima is known for his love of films as much as his fascination with geo-political conflict. Another quote from the BBC doc (via Kotaku) shows that Kojima already has silver-screen ambitions for his new production house.

"In the future, Kojima Productions will also start making films," Kojima says. "If a person can do one thing well, then they should be able to do anything well."

Though he didn't say when that production would start, he did say that "within the next three to four years, everything will move to streaming—games, movies and TV shows." Since we're already advancing toward that with Google Stadia and subscriptions like Apple Arcade, odds are he might go three-for-three with that prediction.

Kojima Productions has also been trickling out more and more bizarre details about Death Stranding, including an otter-hatted Conan O'Brien. In the months leading up to Death Stranding's launch, Kojima's answered just about every burning question one might have, from whether Keanu might appear in future games to what exactly the "Strand genre" is. At one point, he expressed a desire to be a crab.

In other places, actors like Norman Reedus, who appears as protagonist Sam Porter Bridges in Death Stranding, have praised Kojima's independent outing. It seems like Death Stranding's westbound odyssey is already being chalked up as a win for Kojima Productions, but following this press tour has been the true journey.

You can see what we thought of Death Stranding in our review, where we called it the boldest and most perplexing game of 2019. We'll have more Death Stranding content rolling out closer to release.