As Video Games Are Fighting the War for Time, Death Stranding 2 Already Foretold of Its Dangers

Stick with me. A few weeks ago, Xbox’s Matt Booty discussed Halo: Campaign Evolved coming to PS5 with the New York Times. The Console Wars are dead and buried, and that’s all fine and dandy. That’s not the war Microsoft is concerned with, as he said, “Our biggest competition isn’t another console.” Instead, he said, “We are competing more and more with everything from TikTok to movies.” I’ve seen a lot of comments disregarding this statement, thinking it is a bit ludicrous that Xbox is competing with social media or movies, but it’s true. It’s true of Sony, of Nintendo, of every studio, and of every indie developer. The gaming industry, social media, the television industry, the movie industry, and virtually every form of entertainment all rely on a currency that is becoming increasingly precious: time. The thing is, Death Stranding 2 outright shows us how social media dominates that war.

Why Time is a Precious Resource

Before we get into what Death Stranding 2 effectively says about this, I think it’s important we get on the same page about time. After all, some folks don’t think Xbox is competing with social media. They may mean from a tech standpoint, an availability standpoint, an innovation standpoint, and that’s true enough. It’s not a technological competition, but a competition for time. Look at the battle royale genre. Basically, any game that wasn’t Apex Legends, Call of Duty: Warzone, or Fortnite struggled to gain any major prominence for years, to the point that the trend is arguably going downward, but it’s still tough to crack. That’s a result of how much time they dominated. Part of the reason why live-service games work, when done right, is that they become a reliable timesink for players and incredible profits for companies. It’s why, back in February 2022, Sony wanted to release 10 live-service games by March 2026. It’s also why it didn’t make any sense then because no one has the time to juggle more than 1-2 live-service games, if that.

Competition within the industry is competition for money, yes, but also time, and the time to play video games is being encroached upon. There’s always been something else someone can do with their time, sure. Go outside. Watch a movie. Go to a club or whatever the cool kids used to do. But there are new competitors now. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, social media has changed. Social media plays on the already dwindling attention spans worldwide, but apps like TikTok are more ad-friendly, cost less to be on, and can be ultimately tailored to you. Imagine if the FYP (For You Page) were a video game, completely tailored to you and your interests, even down to your moods. Emotional regulation can influence how someone feels about a video game, with that being the person’s responsibility to navigate, but the FYP does a great job of knowing what kind of mood its viewers are in. Not to be the doom-and-gloom, old guy scared of tech, but it sounds scary and dangerous, does it not? Algorithms already run the world, but we keep feeding them. And someday video games will crack the algorithm code and become your FYP, but that’s not a video game I think I truly want.

All of this is to say, beyond some possible doomerism on my part, social media is stealing time from video games, and that’s the war video games are at risk of losing. Throw in complications from GenAI in video games, and a ton of other things, and it’s a constant, from all angles, attack on the industry.

The World of Death Stranding 2 is More Connected and More Alone

Death Stranding 2‘s “Should we have connected?” is a simple question that can quickly become a rabbit hole because it explores questions of hyper-connectivity and its downsides. Early in the game, for example, Sam (and thus players) learn that Die-Hardman has been replaced as the President, alongside the introduction of a new governing style for UCA. What players learn is that it’s an algorithm determining who should be the most powerful man in the United States and, if the world were ever fully connected, the Free World. Throughout the story thereafter, Death Stranding leads players to believe that expanding to Australia MAY be an attempt to expand the UCA’s power, as that is the most logical, human explanation for the shady ongoings. Instead, it’s an attempt by an algorithm to ensure no one ever leaves their Beaches.

This is to “stop” the inevitable extinction of humans, but it’s still a trap, a world controlled by an algorithm. In this world, what else would humans do or consume intellectually other than what the algorithm feeds them? In so many ways, APAS’s attempt to stop extinction relies on controlling the world’s time with an algorithm, and if APAS were a corporation, there’d be a way it makes money off keeping everyone controlled by said Algorithm. That’s the amount of time people spend on social media personified. Just like UCA and Australia became connected by Sam, social media connects people to the world around them. And just like an algorithm tries to keep you there and dominate everyone’s time, every social media algorithm today is about keeping you for as long as possible. Stuff like TikTok trends are fun, yes, and I am trying not to lean into any kind of doomerism, but the similarities are there between APAS and social media algorithms are there.

Likes Are Currency

When Death Stranding 2 players come together to build bridges, make important infrastructure, and otherwise help each other, that is akin to social media genuinely helping other people. The Algorithm can do some good, truly, but there’s always the risk of it becoming transactional. Death Stranding 2 treats “likes” as an indicator of progress, and just like real social media, you don’t need likes. You really don’t. You don’t. I promise you don’t. But it feels good, the dopamine hit of receiving likes, the act of liking things, the exchange. We are hardwired for it. It risks making any connection transactional at best and detrimental at worst, as doing something for the likes can always backfire. These systems in Death Stranding 2 can reflect the world of engagement farming, ragebaiting, doomscrolling, slop-this and slop-that, and all the strange -ings only associated with social media.

Higgs is An Internet Troll

Higgs’ return in Death Stranding 2 can be summarized in-universe as a revenge story: his deep-seated hatred for Sam, due to being stranded on a Beach for decades, creates his desire to trigger the Last Stranding to end it all. Underneath the surface, Higgs represents another important component in the war for time. APAS is the algorithm’s attempt to dominate as much time as possible, but Higgs is a manifestation of the social media troll who only wastes as much time as possible with purely nihilistic motivations. He hates someone he barely knows, going so far as to torture him and take everything he can (because Sam can’t die). He goes crazy on the Beach, which is effectively the Cloud, which is this point of connection and death that can just be whatever app connects you to the world, but also will someday hold you for all time.

Internet trolls exist to get you to rage, to act out, to hold some control over you all the same. He ragebaits Sam, he farms engagement off Sam, he makes Sam doomspiral (like doomscrolls). Higgs is an internet troll who just creates chaos and doesn’t add anything of value to the connection, despite being as connected as the rest of the world. Death Stranding 2 players can help each other build bridges, provide resources, and all of that; it would have been in Higgs’ power too, to help porters, to help the world. And maybe he was twisted and made this way (well, even moreso) after the events of Death Stranding, but that doesn’t make him any less of a troll. He was alone in a world of connections, but he didn’t have to be. He has to undertake his own healing journey someday.

In short, Death Stranding 2 predicts a world that is connected by social media (The Chiral Network) that, in and of itself, is fast, vast, but emotionally shallow. It connects the world, but everyone remains separated and isolated. Sam’s “connections” before his departure for Australia don’t stop the consuming depression, even if he is “connected.” It’s being with them, helping, and contributing positively that helps him work through the trauma. Aside from that, APAS represents an algorithm dominating that connection, working to keep people trapped in their beaches despite being “connected,” while Higgs is there to cause as much chaos as possible. Death Stranding shows a world where these connections can be good for communities, but warns of the dangers of these connections. APAS and Higgs represent that.

That is the world Kojima predicts with Death Stranding 2. It’s a world I feel is increasingly here, and it’s the world that video game companies are competing in. Social Media apps like TikTok, especially in the current general atmosphere of the world, are dominating the time that games need to survive. It’s that simple. Will it get to the same apocalyptic level as The Last Stranding, and Higgs, and APAS? Well, I would certainly hope not. But Death Stranding 2 shows a world where digital “connection” can be isolating, exhausting, and dangerous, where likes, networks, and notifications all too often take precedent over any other connection, and time becomes centralized to a controlling force. But in this prediction is a lesson: Choose what to do with your time and who you spend it with, even if it’s not video games, but don’t let an algorithm decide for you.

Systems

Released

June 26, 2025

ESRB

Mature 17+ // Violence, Blood and Gore, Partial Nudity, Strong Language

Publisher(s)

Sony Interactive Entertainment

• 
  

•