A major PS5 exclusive, which Sony held console publishing rights to, has quietly landed on Xbox. The game is none other than Kojima Productions’ Death Stranding Director’s Cut, which is now available on Xbox Series X|S with a special limited-time discount of 50%.
Why former PS5 exclusive Death Stranding’s Xbox release is a surprise
Sony not only held exclusive console publishing rights to Death Stranding, but it also owns the IP. The title was previously released on Game Pass, but only for PC, with 505 Games tasked with publishing duties.
This morning, Kojima Productions announced that the game’s Director’s Cut version, which released on PS5 in 2021 and PC in 2022, is available on Xbox platforms. An image accompanying the official tweet confirms that Sony still owns the IP, but it’s 505 Games that’s been tasked with publishing Death Stranding on Xbox Series X|S.
It’s unclear what kind of an agreement took place between the four parties, but Hideo Kojima has long favored multiplatform releases for his games, and enjoys a good relationship with both Sony and Microsoft.
While Xbox has slowly begun releasing its games on rival PlayStation, Sony has yet to reciprocate. Whether Death Stranding is the first step in that direction or not remains to be seen.
