By Dom Peppiatt

Copyright eurogamer

Tonight, as part of the Kojima Productions 10th Anniversary livestream, called Beyond the Strand, we got a new update on the Death Stranding franchise. The stream promised to be “a celebratory event” that will include “special guest appearances as well as offer a glimpse into future projects,” and it certainly lived up to that promise.

The stream began with a quick recap of Kojima Industries’ history so far, from inception through to the announcement and launch of Death Stranding, Death Stranding 2, and the reveals of both OD (2023) and Physint (2024). Towards the end of the project, Guillermo del Toro, Geoff Keighley, George Miller and Mamoru Oshii took to the stage to talk about the future of entertainment, gaming, and art. Notably, all of the speakers talk about going ‘off-screen’ with storytelling.

Then John Hanke, founder of Pokemon Go developer Niantic and now boss of Niantic Spatial (an ‘AI-led geospatial business platform’), joined Kojima on-stage to present a section devoted to how Kojima plans to ‘move beyond the screen,’ where the Japanese developer envisions “going to the top of a mountain, and even finding entertainment there”.

There’s no real hint as to what this project will be beyond a fluffy teaser trailer that seems to be Pokemon Go-meets-Death Stranding. “Kojima Productions and Niantic Spatial Team Up to Redefine Immersive Entertainment” reads a blurb on the trailer, as people wonder around interacting with virtual bonsai trees, golden aura, and other weird environmental aspects. It all looks like stuff from the chiral network in the Death Stranding games, so I imagine our job – as porters via our phones or smart glasses, per the trailer – will be to connect things up.

You can see the latest trailer for Death Stranding x Niantic as part of the livestream below.

This seems like very early concept-level blue sky thinking. It’s worth noting that Niantic Spatial isn’t quite Pokemon Go developer Niantic: the company was split into a games and geospatial division earlier this year, with the gaming development arm going over to Monopoly Go maker Scopely in a deal worth $3.5bn.

Niantic Spatial focuses on a refreshed version of Niantic’s original core interest – creating a digital map of the planet, now using geospatial AI. The newly-rebranded company has secured $250m of capital investment ($50m from Scopely and $200m from Niantic’s own balance sheet), and this is the first game-related project we’ve seen from the company.

“We’re in the midst of seismic changes in technology, with AI evolving rapidly,” Niantic founder John Hanke wrote when talking about the goal of the Spatial platform. “Existing maps were built for people to read and navigate but now there is a need for a new kind of map that makes the world intelligible for machines, for everything from smart glasses to humanoid robots, so they can understand and navigate the physical world.

It seems Kojima wants to leverage this tech, and paste a Death Stranding experience on the top of this evolving tech that is as-yet-untested in a gaming environment.

Death Stranding 2 received a warm reception when it launched earlier this year, with Eurogamer calling it a “busier, louder, and more emotionally resplendent take on this singular hiking sim” in our four star review.

We’re also expecting a Death Stranding animated movie, and an entirely different Death Stranding anime with an original story, too.

“I love the world of Death Stranding, it’s so creatively freeing, so beautifully dark and yet hopeful; I’m so excited and honoured that Hideo Kojima, whose work I’ve long admired, has invited me to dwell within his creation, to birth new stories into this fertile, mind-bending universe,” says Raised by Wolves creator Aaron Guzikowski, who is penning the script for the animated feature.

It’s clear the series has some life in it yet, and even with games like OD and Physint on the way from Kojima Studios, the storied developer is a long way from giving up on this particular baby, just yet.