HIDEO KOJIMA Says Death Stranding 3 Concept Exists: 'I Wrote It'
The creator explains DS2’s ending caps the first two games, adds he is not planning DS3 now, and hopes someone at Kojima Productions builds it.
Summary
- Hideo Kojima says the concept for Death Stranding 3 is already written, but there are no active plans to make it now.
- The director explains that Death Stranding 2 serves as the conclusion for the first two games in the series.
- Kojima joked that he hopes someone else at Kojima Productions creates DS3 using his outline.
Hideo Kojima barely caught his breath after launching Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, and he’s already eyeing what comes next. The creator says a concept for Death Stranding 3 exists. That doesn’t mean a greenlight. It does mean a blueprint.
“I’m not planning to do it right now, because the end of Death Stranding 2 was my conclusion for 1 and 2,” Kojima said during the game’s promotional tour. “But I already wrote the concept for DS3, so I have an idea. I hope someone creates it for me.”
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That’s a tidy way to hand the future to your team while you catch a nap and a coffee.
If DS3 happens, it won’t be a random spin-off. Kojima frames it as a follow-through on themes the series already set up. He’s closing one arc and stashing notes for the next.
What he actually said, and what that signals
“I’m not planning to do it right now” is a clear boundary. The next line confirms work done at the idea level. “I already wrote the concept for DS3” tells you there’s a treatment. Characters. Pillars. Maybe a few wild set pieces scribbled in bold marker.
“I hope someone creates it for me” sounds playful, yet it’s also a practical hint. Kojima Productions is bigger than one person. A third game could be led by a trusted creative, with Kojima supervising from a step back. That’s common in long-running studios. Vision first, delegation second, shipping third.
Two takeaways land clean: the DS2 finale was designed as closure for the first two games, and there is a documented path to a third entry. No timelines. No platforms. No tease trailers. Just a seed packet labeled DS3.
Quick refresher
The first Death Stranding arrived in 2019 from Kojima Productions. It’s an action-adventure set in a post-apocalyptic United States fractured by a phenomenon called the Death Stranding. That event warped reality, unleashed supernatural threats, and scattered what remained of society into isolated pockets.
You play Sam Porter Bridges, a lone porter with good boots and worse sleep. His job is to reconnect settlements by hauling essential cargo through punishing terrain. He carries BB, an encapsulated baby that helps detect invisible entities called BTs.
The route is the game. Rivers, cliffs, storms, and time-rain make travel risky. Human enemies complicate it. So do the BTs. Sam’s trip is physical and emotional, with the loneliness hitting almost as hard as the weather.
Across the journey, you learn about the Death Stranding’s origins and meet figures who shape it. Higgs brings mask-on menace and ambiguous intent. Amelie ties directly to the cataclysm. The connection is the point, in more ways than one.
The ‘Strand’
The series obsesses over connection. Life and death. Solitude and community. The cost of choosing to care. Delivery routes become social threads, stitched by asynchronous player structures and quiet cooperation.
That mix gave Death Stranding an identity. Combat exists, yet traversal is the headline mechanic. The rhythm is weird until it isn’t. Once it clicks, rebuilding a hostile world becomes the game’s thesis.
Kojima leans into philosophy without losing the tactile stuff. Back support braces. Zip-lines. Exoskeletons. Tools reduce friction, not meaning. The work remains.
So where does a third entry even go. If DS2 truly closes the loop on Sam’s core story, DS3 would likely explore new stakes, new routes, and a new angle on what “connection” looks like after the beach settles. Yes, that’s speculation. It’s also the cleanest extension of the series’ logic.
What DS2 changes, and how that frames DS3
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is out now on PlayStation 5. It’s positioned as a follow-up that clears the narrative tab of the first game while expanding the world’s rules. No spoilers here, only the obvious: sequels answer questions and create a few more.
Kojima’s quote says DS2’s ending was the intended capstone for this two-part arc. Treat it like a season finale. Satisfying enough to stop, open enough to continue. That’s how you design room for a future handoff.
The part about “someone creates it for me” also tees up an internal test. Can Kojima Productions articulate and execute a Strand Game without Kojima directing every scene. They probably can. The studio already ships high craft across tech, animation, and systems. A strong concept document does the rest.
The core cast and the world they shape
Sam Porter Bridges carries the series’ emotional weight. His routes reveal people cut off from one another, afraid to reconnect because loss hurts. That tracks with the BTs and the beach lore, where memory and mortality blur.
BB isn’t just a tool. BB is a survival mechanism that forces Sam to face both danger and attachment. It’s a smart design trick and a narrative lever.
Higgs plays the wildcard. His abilities and motivations add pressure, especially when the world already feels like a glass floor above an ocean. Amelie is the hinge character, with ties to the Death Stranding that define the stakes.
These pieces give DS3 a full pantry. You can rotate characters, pass the torch, or jump to a new region that suffered differently. As long as connection under threat remains the theme, it still reads as Death Stranding.
So, is DS3 happening
Right now, there’s no production announcement. There’s a written concept. Those are different things, and that difference matters.
Studios outline sequels to preserve momentum and capture ideas while they’re fresh. Sometimes those outlines become games. Sometimes they become reference bibles for later. Kojima’s candid line keeps expectations reasonable and interest high. Right? Ok.
If a third game moves forward, expect a fresh protagonist or a refocused Sam, new traversal headaches, and more ways to collaborate quietly with other players. Expect the social layer to deepen, since that’s where the series carves its niche. Expect the tone to stay human, even when ghosts and beaches are doing the loud work.
Bottom line? Kojima wrapped the story he wanted to tell across the first two games. He also left a documented path for Death Stranding 3 and joked about someone else picking up the baton. That’s how you close a chapter without locking the door.
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is available now, exclusively on PlayStation 5. If you just finished it and feel oddly motivated to reorganize your garage, that’s normal. The games make you care about boxes, bridges, and people. In that order.
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