Death Stranding 2 PC Port Looks Imminent After ESRB Rating

A surprise listing on the Entertainment Software Rating Board website has all but confirmed that Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is walking its way to PC. The ratings page, which now includes a Windows version alongside the existing PlayStation 5 entry, strongly suggests that Sony and Kojima Productions are preparing to announce a PC port sooner rather than later.

The detail that immediately caught fans’ attention is the listed publisher.

Unlike the first Death Stranding, whose PC version was handled by 505 Games, this new rating names Sony Interactive Entertainment as the publisher on PC as well. That subtle change underlines how much Sony’s PC strategy has evolved in just a few years, with more first-party titles heading to Steam and the Epic Games Store as part of a broader push beyond consoles.

The timing of the rating also lines up neatly with Kojima’s release history. The original Death Stranding arrived on PlayStation 4 in November 2019 and made the jump to PC in July 2020, roughly eight months later. The Director’s Cut followed a similar pattern: it landed on PS5 in September 2021 and reached PC in March 2022. Since then, the first game has continued to spread, including mobile versions and an Xbox Series X|S release in late 2024, turning a once “niche” experiment into a multi-platform franchise.

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach launched as a PS5 exclusive in June this year, and the ESRB listing is already signaling the next step in its journey. If history repeats itself, PC players could be reconnecting the world sometime in 2026, or even earlier if Sony continues to shrink the gap between console and PC launches. With The Game Awards just around the corner and Geoff Keighley’s long-standing friendship with Hideo Kojima, many fans are bracing for a dramatic “one more thing” moment where a PC version gets its big reveal.

Behind the hype, there’s also a more pragmatic angle to the timing. Online chatter and armchair analysts have painted Death Stranding 2 as a slower seller on PS5 than Sony might have hoped, especially for a lavish, big-budget AAA project. Unverified reports claiming sub–two-million sales on console have fueled arguments that a rapid PC release is less about generosity and more about math: a way to tap into a second, hungry audience and help recoup a hefty development budget. Sony has not published official sales figures, so for now this remains speculation, but there’s no doubt that a PC version dramatically broadens the game’s commercial runway.

The first Death Stranding is a useful reminder of how long-tailed this series can be. It built momentum gradually, helped by word of mouth, impressive PC ports, and the curiosity surrounding Kojima’s first post–Metal Gear project. By the time Xbox players finally got their own version, the game had transformed from a divisive walking simulator meme into a cult classic, celebrated for its atmosphere, technical polish, and unapologetically weird vision. Death Stranding 2 is poised to follow a similar path, and putting it in front of as many players as possible feels like a logical, if not inevitable, move.

Meanwhile, the wider Death Stranding universe is expanding just as aggressively as its platform list. An original 2D animated series, Death Stranding Isolations, is in the works for Disney+, promising a traditional hand-drawn style and some of Japan’s top animation talent. A separate live-action movie, produced by Hideo Kojima with director Michael Sarnoski, is set to tell an entirely new story rather than simply retread the games. Add in another animated project, Death Stranding: Mosquito, and it’s clear that the so-called “strand” genre is quietly becoming a full-blown multimedia franchise.

All of this is happening while Kojima himself juggles multiple ambitious side projects. OD, a mysterious horror title made in partnership with Xbox Game Studios, has already sparked endless theories about whether it’s spiritually linked to P.T. or Silent Hill. Its first trailer showed Sophia Lillis and Hunter Schafer caught in something between a seance and a psychological breakdown, hinting at experimental storytelling that plays with perception and live-action footage. Then there’s Physint, a PlayStation action–espionage project that Kojima openly describes as blurring the line between movie and game and is widely seen as a spiritual successor to his Metal Gear era.

For some console purists, Sony’s faster move to PC still stings, especially when they remember past comments about multi-year exclusivity windows. For everyone else, a shorter wait is simply good news: more players, more discussion, more memes, and a better chance for bold, expensive games like Death Stranding 2 to actually find their audience. And with fans already joking that a six-month gap to PC might become the new normal, questions naturally turn to the rest of Sony’s lineup – right down to speculative projects like the rumored samurai epic “Ghost of Yotei” and when they might make the same leap.

Whether you see it as smart business, damage control for soft launch sales, or just the natural evolution of modern publishing, the ESRB listing makes one thing clear: Sam Porter Bridges is preparing another long trip, this time across gaming’s most powerful platform. For PC players who sat out the PS5 version, and for Sony and Kojima Productions looking to extend the life of their strange, beautiful sequel, that journey can’t start soon enough.