Death Stranding has fallen slightly behind Kojima Productions' internal planned release date, according to the man in charge.

Loading

Loading

Hideo Kojima made the statement in an interview with J-Wave . As translated by IGN Japan, Kojima explained:“It’s common for studios to fall behind their planned release date, and Death Stranding is very slightly behind our initial plan, but not behind by much.”At one point, Kojima was hinting that the game would be out before 2019 , so it does feel a little like there have been multiple planned release dates.Elsewhere in the interview, Kojima explains that the nature of making an open world game means that he's constantly making adjustments and playtesting new versions.He also discusses the complicated nature of trying to explain a brand new game, because it is "only visible inside me", and says that a new game is "high risk".Kojima joins the growing number of gaming luminaries to say that the future of gaming lies in streaming (see: Hennig Guillemot , and Spencer ), going so far as to say that movies and games will become "one entertainment".After today's news, we can at least be reassured that Death Stranding is moving along. Kojima has demoed 2 hours of an early version to mutliple people, including Metal Gear Solid movie director Jordan Vogt-Roberts So, the big question: will it come out in 2019

Joe Skrebels is IGN's UK Deputy Editor. He still clings to the belief this could come out this year. Follow him on Twitter