A well known and respected leaker claims a sequel to Death Stranding is in development at Kojima Productions under the codename Ocean.

ResetEra user Dusk Golem is responsible for the leak (H/T Insider Gaming). They've been behind several leaks related primarily to horror and horror-adjacent games.

"Death Stranding 2 is in development (and for some insiders to know I'm not bullshitting about this in the future, its internal codename is Ocean), but Kojima has had a long-standing deal with Sony on this, which is being analyzed if Sony and Kojima Productions should renew their contracts after DS2 or not at present, but was never in question before this due to a multi-game contract Sony and Kojima Productions have."

GamesBeat's Jeff Grubb reported in July 2021 that Kojima and Microsoft had signed a letter of intent for a new game, leading some to wonder if Death Stranding 2 would be an Xbox exclusive. Dusk Golem rejected the notion, saying "Death Stranding 2 itself was always plotted to be with Sony.

"I’m not going to say a single actual thing about the game itself, not now or in the future, so don’t ask even if people figure out later I’m 100% telling the truth about the codename and contract stuff. But any murmurs about a DS2 with anyone other than Sony is bullshit.

"The deal with Xbox was never meant to be DS2, this rumor is just false, Sony and Kojima Productions have a multi-game contract that expires after DS2 and at present is being decided by both parties whether to continue their relationship or end it after DS2, and that is the truth.”

In addition to reports claiming Death Stranding 2 was in the works, star Norman Reedus revealed he was working on a sequel in May. Hideo Kojima jokingly chastised Reedus for the reveal on Twitter shortly after.

Death Stranding aside, Kojima's next game will be the product of a partnership between his studio and Xbox Game Studios, Xbox CEO Phil Spencer announced in June.

This article was originally published on dbltap as Death Stranding 2 Rumored Codenamed 'Ocean'.