Who is this ‘final’ six-minute Death Stranding 2 trailer actually for?

Death Stranding 2: On The Beach is out today, not counting the early access period. Kojima Productions and publisher Sony couldn’t resist putting out one last trailer. I wouldn’t be surprised if the filename for it was something like DS2_FINAL_TRAILER_V17_noactuallyitsthelastone.mp4 and yet it still has a runtime of six minutes. 

Although there are some fun moments in this trailer, it’s much too long. You probably shouldn’t watch it if you’d like to stay as spoiler-free as possible before playing the game, as the trailer includes some heavy-handed teases and perhaps gives away some of DS2‘s surprises.

The game’s director, Hideo Kojima, is a man with more ideas than he has time to execute. That’s evident in his games, which are packed full of complexity and cinematics. I found a YouTube video titled “Death Stranding 2 All Cutscenes Part 1″ that’s nearly two hours long. In other words, these games are a lot (though it is cute that there’s a special cutscene when it’s your birthday). Fittingly, the trailers are excessive as well.

By my count, we’ve now had over 30 minutes of DS2 trailers, including a 10-minute one. That’s not counting the 22-minute gameplay demo at Summer Game Fest. There will be more trailers when Death Stranding 2 inevitably migrates from the PS5 to other platforms, so I don’t believe for a second that this is the “final” one. Perhaps there will be a Director’s Cut edition with its own trailers.

Yes, studios, publishers and their marketing teams have a tough time on their hands trying to break through the noise and get their games on the radars of players who might want to check them out. But this is a Hideo Kojima game that Sony is publishing. A sequel to an acclaimed game that more than 20 million people have played. The vast majority of people who would be interested in Death Stranding 2 are likely already well aware of it. This probably didn’t need a final trailer, and certainly not one that’s six minutes long. (I am well aware of the irony that, by embedding it here, we’re bringing more eyeballs to this trailer. Don’t @ me.)

Kojima famously edits the trailers for his games himself, and he did so with this one. But they could probably do with another pass in someone else’s hands. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/who-is-this-final-six-minute-death-stranding-2-trailer-actually-for-161728737.html?src=rss