Death Stranding Franchise Hits 28 Million Players
Kojima Productions says the series across games and subscription services has reached the milestone, with its latest title estimated at 2.5 million sales.
Updated on Nov. 8, 2026 in Gaming
Kojima Productions has announced that the Death Stranding franchise has reached 28 million players. The total combines the original game, its Director's Cut, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, and players who accessed the first game through PlayStation Plus and Game Pass.
Why it matters
The milestone shows the series has built a large audience seven years after the original debuted, extending across both purchases and subscription access. It also signals continued interest in the studio's upcoming projects.
The 28 million figure is a franchise-wide total spanning the original game, its Director's Cut, the sequel, and subscription-service access. The sequel's estimated 2.5 million copies as of September is the only separately reported sales figure.
The players
Kojima Productions
The Tokyo-based studio led by Hideo Kojima that developed the Death Stranding series and is now expanding it into anime, film, and new games.
The details
Kojima Productions said the total includes players who accessed the first game through PlayStation Plus and Game Pass, alongside sales across all consoles and PC for the sequel. The studio also announced an anime series titled Isolations, a film titled Mosquito, a live-action Death Stranding project in production, and two games in development: tactical espionage thriller Physint and horror title OD.
Timeline
The original Death Stranding debuted seven years before this announcement.
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach sales were estimated at 2.5 million copies as of September of the prior year.
Culture Shift
Counting players who reached the first game through PlayStation Plus and Game Pass reflects how subscription services have become a major route into big single-player titles rather than a side channel. This mirrors a broader move in gaming toward audiences being measured across access models, not just paid copies.
Because the franchise total counts subscription-service access, players can reach the original Death Stranding through PlayStation Plus or Game Pass without buying it outright. The studio's upcoming anime, film, and game projects will determine where future entries are available.
The takeaway
Franchise totals increasingly blend unit sales with subscription access, so headline player counts can look different from paid sales figures. Readers comparing titles should check which access models a figure includes.
Further reading
For more on the series, browse our Gaming coverage.
Source note: This article includes information reported by GamingBolt.
