Is Death Stranding 2 coming to Xbox?
It's currently unclear if Death Stranding 2 will get an Xbox release, though the unexpected Xbox port of the first game that recently launched on Microsoft's consoles suggests it's far more likely than it was when Sony PlayStation still owned the rights to the series.
Death Stranding 2 on Xbox is fairly likely
One of the most fascinating games in recent years was Death Stranding, a post-apocalyptic, story-driven walking simulator from the team at Kojima Productions that's led by none other than the prolific developer Hideo Kojima himself. Starring Norman Reedus as protagonist Sam Bridges, the game has you fill his shoes and transport supplies between mankind’s last holdouts to reconnect them, all while avoiding roaming monsters and deadly rainfall that ages and deteriorates everything it touches.
Though the game got a PC port in 2020 and became available on iOS and Mac early this year, it hadn't yet come to Xbox, as it was a PlayStation console exclusive at the time. Recently, though, PlayStation lost Death Stranding to Xbox Series X|S when the game got a surprise launch on Microsoft's platform, complete with Xbox Play Anywhere support on Windows PCs. The release came alongside the news that Hideo Kojima and Kojima Productions have acquired Death Stranding's franchise rights from Sony and PlayStation.
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That revelation has many hopeful that the Death Stranding sequel — first announced in 2022 and then revealed as Death Stranding 2: On the Beach during PlayStation’s State of Play event on January 31 — will come to Xbox consoles at launch. Ultimately, there hasn't been any word about this officially yet, but I'd say it's likely we'll see Death Stranding 2 get an Xbox release since Kojima Productions and its publishing partner 505 Games have nothing to gain by making the follow-up title an exclusive.
Even if it doesn't come to Xbox, though, there's good news for Kojima fans hoping to play one of his games on one of Microsoft's consoles. During The Game Awards 2023, Kojima unveiled an Xbox exclusive game called OD that's in development, accompanying the announcement with a teaser trailer. We don't have a release date or window yet and ultimately know nothing about the game other than the fact it's being made with Microsoft's cloud technologies, but even so, it's good to know that Kojima Productions has another project in the oven.
Could Death Stranding 2 come to Game Pass?
An Xbox release for Death Stranding 2 seems pretty likely, but could we also see the sequel come to Xbox Game Pass? Microsoft's all-you-can-eat style gaming service has become very popular since it lets subscribers access hundreds of games in exchange for a monthly fee, and there will no doubt be a strong demand for Kojima's sequel to be added to Game Pass as a result.
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It's impossible to say if it actually will appear on the service or not right now, as Kojima Productions hasn't yet commented on the subject. It's worth noting, however, that the first game came to PC Game Pass in late 2022 and was available to play on it for almost an entire year before it left the Game Pass library in August 2023. This suggests we could see Death Stranding 2 make it to Game Pass at some point, too, though the fact the recently released Xbox port of the first game isn't on Game Pass makes me think it wouldn't happen for quite a while after launch.
At the end of the day, there are reasons to be hopeful for the sequel to come to Game Pass, but I can hardly say the chances of that happening are likely. Even so, any chance of it happening at all is more than what Xbox and PC players could have ever hoped for for the formerly exclusive series.
Death Stranding: Director's Cut is available on PC for $39.99, and is one of the best Xbox games and best PC games out there for folks that enjoy immersive and story-rich walking simulators. Whether or not you'll jive with its bizarre imagery and unashamedly weird concepts is a coin toss, but undeniably, it's an experience that resonates with many players.
