Death Stranding 2: On The Beach is coming to PS5 on June 26, 2025. It’s a lot earlier than many of us expected Hideo Kojima’s latest game to arrive, but I’m not complaining if it means I’ll be tumbling down ravines with dozens of packages in just a few months’ time.
Everything about it looks incredible yet ridiculous, sharing in the same excess and innovation that the first game had in spades. It was divisive, but it was this unashamed ambition and desire to be whatever it wanted to be that made Death Stranding so memorable. No studio in the triple-A landscape is making games like Kojima Productions, and that alone is reason enough to sit up to pay attention. But I’ll save my gushing for another time, because right now I need to touch on the Collector’s Edition.
Why Doesn’t Death Stranding 2’s Collector’s Edition Come With The Game?
Set to retail for $229.99, the Death Stranding 2: On the Beach Collector’s Edition includes a Magellan Man statue, Dollman figure, art cards, and a letter from Hideo Kojima himself. It will also grant you access to a variety of digital content ranging from firearms to patches you can use to make your deliveries just a little bit easier. Interestingly, though, Kojima Productions is offering players a digital code for the game instead of a physical copy or a steelbook, which predictably has the community up in arms.
I’m going to go out on a limb and say that the letter from Hideo Kojima isn’t going to be personalised.
This trend has been commonplace for a long time now, and isn’t just limited to games, with a number of limited-edition consoles based on specific properties deciding to offer redeemable codes for any and all games, likely to save money and space in the box. But when you have paid additional funds for a fancy console, it sucks to open it up and see a load of digits there alongside the hardware waiting to be redeemed. Nothing to be put on a shelf or to keep safe for preservation purposes.
It’s a shame, and when it comes to someone like Hideo Kojima, a creator with such a public love of physical media, it feels strange for Death Stranding 2 to be adhering to such a damaging precedent.
Our Digital Future Is A Blessing And A Curse
Don’t get me wrong, it’s better than past Collector’s Editions which have opted not to bother with the game at all. Dragon Age: The Veilguard was entirely gameless, with BioWare following on from a similar package for Mass Effect: Andromeda. God of War: Ragnarok also opted for a digital code with a luscious steelbook instead of the physical copy we all wanted. Not including the game at all and still charging $200 is rubbish in its own right, but opting for a digital code feels like a cost-cutting measure that a premium product like this shouldn’t be victim of. At the bare minimum, it should include the game along with myriad other bonuses.
We are heading towards a digital future, with the majority of game purchases now made in this way, with mainstream consumers largely indifferent to physical media. Corporations are abiding by these changing trends, as you’d expect them to, but collector’s editions you can tell are designed for hardcore fans who want nothing more than to hold a copy of a new game in their hands should be the exception. But they aren’t, and that’s a big problem.
- Released
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June 26, 2025
- ESRB
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Mature 17+ // Violence, Blood and Gore, Partial Nudity, Strong Language