Death Stranding 2 Sales Flop: Is Kojima or Sony to Blame?

Sony reportedly pulled out of Kojima's new project PHYSINT, with Xbox taking over publishing. Fans are now debating who's really at fault for Death Stranding 2's underwhelming sales.

So here's a spicy one for your Tuesday: who's actually to blame when a big game doesn't sell? According to a growing chorus of fans, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach might not be Hideo Kojima's fault at all — it might be Sony's.

Let's back up. Sony and Kojima Productions just went through a major shake-up. Sony has reportedly decided to walk away from Kojima's next project, PHYSINT, and the publishing duties are now being handed over to Xbox. That's a big deal, and it's got people asking questions.

A lot of industry watchers think the writing was on the wall. The theory goes that Death Stranding 2: On the Beach simply didn't hit the sales numbers Sony was hoping for, and that underperformance is what pushed the company to step back from Kojima's future work. In other words, one disappointing launch may have cost the partnership its next chapter.

But not everyone's buying that Kojima is the one who dropped the ball. A recent fan post making the rounds argues the opposite: maybe the problem wasn't Kojima at all. Maybe Sony pushed the project through when it shouldn't have, and the game's struggles are more about the circumstances surrounding it than the man behind it.

It's a fair debate, honestly. Kojima has a legendary track record, but Death Stranding has always been a divisive franchise — slow, weird, and not exactly built for mass-market appeal. If a publisher greenlights something ambitious and unconventional, then acts surprised when it doesn't move Call of Duty numbers, that's a two-way street.

On the flip side, you could argue that Kojima's name alone should be enough to sell a game, and that the sequel just didn't connect the way the first one did. Either way, the Sony-Kojima split — and Xbox swooping in on PHYSINT — is one of the more dramatic industry stories of the year.

So we want to hear from you. When Death Stranding 2: On the Beach underperforms, who deserves the blame — Kojima or Sony? Drop your take in the comments and let's hash it out.