At the New Global Sport Conference in Riyadh, Hideo Kojima discussed the tech behind Death Stranding 2 and said Kojima Productions used an “AI machine learning rig” to scan celebrity friends for in-game characters. The comments were made during a talk with Nicolas Winding Refn and underscore Kojima’s push for realism.
Despite the considerable praise the character models receive, Hideo Kojima remains critical, including his earlier mentions of his work. The series leans on actor likenesses, which makes every tiny facial detail easy to measure against the real person.
Speaking at the event and mentioned in a conference interview, Kojima said he wanted characters to feel “very natural” and that Death Stranding 2 was a step toward that goal. Why isn’t he satisfied? He suggested there’s still room to push realism further.
On the process, he explained: “We scanned and we made a rig, an AI machine learning rig. We took so much time and made sure that we scanned them into digital but made sure that they move analog in a way. And it took so much time.” Kojima also stated that, while Death Stranding 2 is “okay” in his view, his next project may take realism even further, and he mentioned having ideas for another entry in the series in passing.
Chat with us on X and Bluesky for quick takes and follow-up thoughts.
