Summary
- Fall Guys has had successful collaborations with various franchises, including Death Stranding.
- Death Stranding has had limited collaborations with other games, but the partnership with Fall Guys could mark a shift in how the title interacts with other games.
- This collaboration may open the door for more crossovers involving Death Stranding characters in the future, especially with other titles published by Epic Games.
This month, Fall Guys added a skin based on Kojima Productions' Death Stranding. This skin adds the iconic outfit of Sam Porter Bridges, as portrayed by Norman Reedus, into the game. The addition of a skin based on Sam is far from the first crossover skin to grace Mediatonic's hit wipe-out inspired game show video game. Given Mediatonic's strong track record of attracting cool collaborators for skins and events, chances are that crossovers for the game will continue long into the future. This collaboration could hopefully be the first of many like it for Death Stranding.
Fall Guys had some of the best gaming crossovers of 2022. Mediatonic and their publisher for Fall Guys, Epic Games, have done an excellent job of courting big names to the title. Last year the game saw cross-overs with multiple massive television franchises including Doctor Who, Star Trek, and even the WWE. Fall Guys also had multiple cross-overs with other big gaming franchises, featuring the likes of Halo's Master Chief, multiple Sonic characters and multiple combatants from the Street Fighter franchise. While it makes sense that Mediatonic and Epic Games would be open to a crossover with Death Stranding, this new skin is something of a departure for Kojima Productions, and could be the start of a new trend.
Death Stranding Collaborations Have Been Limited
While Fall Guys has thrived in large part due to its collaborative events and items, Death Stranding has been more conservative in doing so. Up until this point, Death Stranding has only crossed over with a very limited number of franchises. The title is referenced as an Easter egg in a number of Sony exclusive titles. Days Gone, Ghost of Tsushima, and God of War Ragnarok all feature small Easter eggs in reference to the game. Death Stranding itself contains Horizon Easter eggs and has had a few crossover events. When launching on PC, Death Stranding crossed over with Half-Life and Portal.
In addition to Half-Life, Death Stranding crossed over with Cyberpunk 2077, featuring 6 missions where players could unlock items for Sam such as V's facial markings and Johnny Silverhand's glasses. Its collaborative events have, until this point, all taken place within Death Stranding and have all been free add-ons to the title or simply included in the director's cut version of the game. Kojima Productions letting Mediatonic put a skin for Sam Porter Bridges in Fall Guys is the first time that another game has received substantial content based on Death Stranding, and is the first time it has been locked behind an additional price tag.
Death Stranding Could Show Up More In Other Games Now
Death Stranding crossing over with Fall Guys could mark a shift in how the title in handled in relationship to other games. Epic Games is also the publisher and developer for Fortnite, one of the biggest games on the planet. In spite of Kojima's comments on battle royales in the past, a crossover between Fortnite and Death Stranding seems more likely than ever given that Fall Guys incorporates many staples of the genre. Given that Kojima Productions was willing to collaborate with Epic and Mediatonic for the crossover, it is not unreasonable to assume that other collaborations between the companies could follow. Destiny 2 has recently started to feature cosmetics based on PlayStation exclusives, and Sony's upcoming live service projects will likely feature cosmetics paying homage to exclusive franchises like Death Stranding.
Fall Guys' inclusion of Death Stranding could also mark the first of many between the titles. While Sam is certainly the most iconic character in the game, Fragile and Higgs would also make for excellent skins. With Death Stranding 2 revealed and on the way, it only makes sense that there would be future crossovers incorporating new and returning characters in some way. Hopefully, Kojima Productions loosening their grip on Death Stranding and its characters is not a one-off thing, and will mark the first in a line of collaborative events for the game and its characters.
Death Stranding is available now on PC, PS4, and PS5.