Rumor has it that Google actually turned down an opportunity to have an exclusive game that would follow up a Hideo Kojima game for Stadia.
Stadia had a grand vision when it launched way back in 2019 and it got tons of developers and publishers that invested with this cloud streaming service. Unfortunately, Google has now decided to shut down early next year. Some developers were stunned when they knew about this announcement.
Speaking of developers, there were some popular studios who wanted to develop games for Stadia. Some of those developers include Harmonix. There were rumored ones too like Yu Suzuki and the other was Hideo Kojima who apparently was rejected by Google.
According to a source that told media outlet 9to5Google, it seems Kojima was going to develop a Stadia-exclusive title that was going to be a follow-up of the popular title Death Stranding. This was a title that first launched on PlayStation. While the original game had a multiplayer feature, it was revealed that the rumored follow-up was going to be strictly single-player and that did not make Google happy.
The source said that the reason for the cancellation was due to Google’s belief that there is no more market for single-player experiences. The early stages of the game’s development earned approval, but after a few mockups later in mid-2020, Google shut down the project.
It was going to be an episodic horror game and Kojima was reportedly excited to work with this new cloud technology. It seems Stadia’s General Manager Phil Harrison was the one who finally made the call to cancel this game.
With the upcoming closure of Stadia early next year, it seems Kojima was lucky to have their project canceled. It would have been a disaster for them if it pulled through.