‘Death Stranding: Director’s Cut’ gameplay: Why Hideo Kojima doesn’t want to call it a ‘Director’s Cut’

A few days after Kojima Productions revealed more gameplay details about “Death Stranding: Director’s Cut” at the recently conclude PlayStation State of Play last week, director Hideo Kojima shared what he thinks about the title. The renowned video game developer made it known that he has misgivings on the upcoming update being called a “director’s cut” for very good reasons.

Kojima started by defining what a director’s cut is in a two-tweet thread early Monday. The “Death Stranding” director said a director’s cut in movies is releasing additional scenes to a “shortened version.” In movies, while the director is at the helm of making the film, they do not usually have what is called the final cut privileges, especially in big-budget movies.

In the film industry, especially for movies produced by major studios, the final cut privileges are often given to the production studio and its executives or the credited executive producers. This is often done so that a movie can avoid age-restricting ratings or in consideration of the movie’s running time. It would then allow the studio to market the movie to a wider audience and earn as much as possible from ticket sales.

Going by that definition, the “Death Stranding” director explained further, “In the game, it is not what was cut, but what was additionally produced that was included. ... So, in my opinion, I don't like to call ‘director's cut.’”

In Kojima Productions’ statements about “Death Stranding: Director’s Cut” last week, the studio suggested that the new content to be added later this year is an evolution of the base game. Aside from the visual improvements, the developer will introduce new story missions and new locations, including a firing range and (for some reason) the Fragile Circuit race track.

It is not entirely clear yet how the Fragile Circuit would play into the overall plot that was introduced in the base game. But Kojima Productions made it clear that these new in-game activities were added for a reason. “The new content isn’t simply bolted on either, it’s been carefully woven into the core game experience,” Jay Boor, Kojima Productions head of publishing, wrote on PlayStation Blog.

“Death Stranding: Director’s Cut” will be released on Friday, Sept. 24. Aside from the new content, upgrades in combat mechanics, and new delivery tools, it will also introduce updates that will maximize the technical capabilities of the PS5.