Death Stranding hits 16 million players: how it compares to other games by Hideo Kojima

With a live action film adaptation of Death Stranding in development, we now know how many players have played the game since its original launch on PS4. Let’s also look at the sales of previous titles created by Hideo Kojima.

In a press release announcing a partnership between Kojima Productions anwd A24, the studio revealed that Death Stranding has connected “over 16 million Porters across PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and PC.”

This includes both units sold and players who tried the title for free on subscription services, Game Pass and PlayStation Plus. It is also worth noting that the PC version of Death Stranding was available as part of free offerings on the Epic Games Store, allowing every user to claim a copy in December 2022 and May 2023.

The last time Kojima Productions disclosed any data about the game was July 2021 when head of publishing Jay Boor said Death Stranding has sold over 5 million copies globally. But it is unclear how its audience has grow since then.

Originally launched in November 2019, Death Stranding is the studio’s first game after Hideo Kojima’s split from Konami. Due to the lack of fresh data, it is hard to directly compare it to previous titles he worked on during his time at the Japanese publisher. But here are some numbers anyway.

As of September 2023, the entire Metal Gear franchise has sold 60.2 million copies globally since 1987. The MGS series accounts for the lion’s share of this volume, having sold over 38 million units as of March 2014.

It’s been a while since Konami updated the sales figures for Metal Gear Solid games, but below is some data on five main entries in the series from the company’s SEC filings, financial reports, and press releases:

• Metal Gear Solid — over 7 million copies (as of March 31, 2005);
• Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty — over 7 million copies (as of March 31, 2005);
• Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater — over 4 million copies (as of March 31, 2014);
• Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots — over 6 million copies (as of May 2014);
• Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain — over 6 million copies (as of December 2015).

We can assume that Death Stranding sold more copies than Metal Gear Solid 3, but making a comparison with other MGS titles would be really hard. The main reason is that the actual numbers are likely higher now (also keep in mind that we don’t know the total sales of Death Stranding beyond the 5 million mark announced in 2021).

Right now, Kojima Productions is working on Death Stranding 2, which will be the direct sequel to the first game featuring the same main characters portrayed by actors like Norman Reedus and Léa Seydoux.

The studio’s another project, OD, was officialy announced earlier this month. Being made in partnership with filmmaker Jordan Peele and Xbox Game Studios, it will be use cloud gaming technology, but other details remain undisclosed.