A decade ago, renowned video game director and industry visionary Hideo Kojima left Konami, a company he’d worked at for almost 30 years. Under Konami, Kojima produced some of the greatest video games of all time, with his Metal Gear Solid series taking top spot in most fans’ eyes. While Kojima had to leave MGS behind, he wasted no time in producing his next passion project. Death Stranding hit store shelves in November 2019.
Though Death Stranding proved to be a rather divisive game upon its 2019 launch, there’s been a general shift in opinion over the last six years. There’s a lot of hype now surrounding Death Stranding‘s imminent sequel, but that’s far from the only Death Stranding project in the works. And if these projects come to fruition, Death Stranding could end up beating Metal Gear Solid to the punch twice in a row.
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The Metal Gear Solid Movie Is Still in Development Hell
All the way back in 2006, Hideo Kojima confirmed that a live-action Metal Gear Solid movie was in development. The project then went dark for four years, with producer Mike De Luca finally coming out in 2010 to state the movie’s production had stalled. Two years later, the Metal Gear Solid movie returned from the dead, with Avi Arad taking over as producer.
In June 2014, Deadline reported that Jordan Vogt-Roberts was coming aboard as the movie’s director, and a year later Jay Basu was hired as a scriptwriter. In 2020, it was reported that Oscar Isaac would be playing the lead role. For the last decade, the Metal Gear Solid movie has continued to be in development, with Vogt-Roberts making the occasional comment, confirming that the project is still alive.
The latest official update on the Metal Gear Solid movie came in July 2024, when producer Avi Arad stated that they were still working on the script, and that he thinks “everyone’s going to be really excited and surprised” by the final product. Filmmaking is an incredibly difficult process with a million different spinning wheels, but Metal Gear Solid‘s development seems to be far more complicated than the average blockbuster. With updates still coming, albeit irregularly, there’s still a chance fans get to see a live-action Metal Gear Solid movie in the future, but it might not be for a while yet.
Punch One – The Death Stranding Live-Action Movie
Announced back in December 2023, Kojima Productions and A24 are currently in the process of creating a live-action Death Stranding movie. While there’s no release date for the project yet, it seems to be coming along nicely, with Kojima himself telling Variety a few days ago that he’d like to oversee the project, but he trusts writer and director Michael Sarnoski and the rest of A24 to produce something great.
Though it’s only been in development for a year and a half, there’s a strong possibility the Death Stranding live-action movie could make it to theaters before the Metal Gear Solid movie, just as long as it doesn’t hit any significant snags during production.
Punch Two – The Death Stranding Animated Movie
On top of a live-action adaptation, Death Stranding is getting its own animated movie as well. Announced just a few days ago by Kojima Productions and animation studio Line Mileage, a Death Stranding animated adaptation is now in the works with Aaron Guzikowski signed on as scriptwriter. This project has just entered development, so it probably won’t hit screens for at least another year or two. But even then, there’s still a chance it comes out before Metal Gear Solid. And that means there’s a possibility Death Stranding has two adaptations out before MGS‘ one.
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
- Released
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June 26, 2025
- ESRB
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Mature 17+ // Violence, Blood and Gore, Partial Nudity, Strong Language
- Publisher(s)
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Sony Interactive Entertainment
- Engine
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Decima
- Franchise
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Death Stranding
- Number of Players
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Single-player
- PS5 Release Date
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June 26, 2025
