Death Stranding makes you drink Monster Energy in-game

Death Stranding forces you to consume Monster Energy drink in-game in order to increase your stamina, with Hideo Kojima unveiling the mechanic during the 49-minute TGS 2019 gameplay demo.

[Ninjamonkey82]

Awesome

[Gunstar75]

Really? Product placement is awesome? 😋

[zodiac909]

@Gunstar75 As if product placement has ever hindered gameplay...Have you ever played any of the burnout, SSX games? Still turned out great. Even GTA and Fallout games have placements loosely based on reality, still great games.

[Atom666]

@zodiac

Product placement warrants a "meh" at best. I'm not sure I've ever seen it referred to as "awesome."

Personally, Monster usually gives me the shits. Here's hoping Kojima dials back the realism on that one...

[atomaweapon]

when you love monster hell yeah. i guess you're more of a soy guy

[Dragonscale]

Doritos and mountain dew spring to mind.

[Gunstar75]

@zodiac909
Yeah .... just never saw a red bull ad and got an "awesome" boner

[jivah]

If its not intrusive. Quantum break was complete shit with the damn nissan shit. Man jurrasic world was ass with mercedes. Just has to not be intrusive and i dont care.

[UltraNova]

@atoma

Hahahah nice one.

Up vote the man, you slimeballs.

[Flewid638]

Been like this since the 90s kiddo.... where you been? lmao

[Clover904]

Lol, it is awesome! Any other time, any other game, product placement is either a non-issue or slightly annoying. But here, in this over-the-top humorous world Kojima has built, seeing a Monster energy drink just makes me smirk. It's all in good fun. Along with seeing Geoff Keighley bidding the player farewell while humorously gesturing "U" "C" "A," and Norman Reedus nervously keeping his back to the camera during pee breaks, seeing Norman Reedus bust out a refreshing can of Monster is just going to put a smile on my face.

[Kumakai]

Only a fanboy would love pointless, blatant product placement...

Car ads in a racing game is one thing, even realistic. Monster Energy Drink in a mysterious dystopian open world game? Gimme a break.

[RememberThe357]

So you've never played a Kojima game. Cool.

His games always have product placement.

[jambola]

cos as we know
in a dystopian world
all things vanish

[ChrisW]

@RememberThe357,
No, not all of his games have product placement.

[Notellin]

They better have some warnings in the game. Some idiot kids about to chug Monster and get themselves in the news.

[goldwyncq]

Would there be Doritos as well? Kojima wouldn't want to disappoint the Dorito Pope.

[ClayRules2012]

Haha, I’m with you on that. I want to see Cheetos too. Chester Cheetah’s a cool cat.

[NarutoFox]

Kojima makes you drink Monster energy in real life

[porkChop]

Why the hell would I want an ad every time I refill my stamina?

[TheSocietalAnomaly]

Where did you read there would be an ad? The gameplay wouldn’t change if it was unbranded, it’s literally just a brand on a can.

[zodiac909]

@TheSocietalAnomaly People will find the smallest thing to piss and moan about.

[porkChop]

It's product placement. That's a form of advertising. I never said the game would play some commercial.

[ReVibe]

Have you played any other Kojima games? From like MGS3 upwards he's had Japanese food brands, Sony Walkman, freakin designer eyewear. Product placement is product placement, but for Kojima it's always been about something that gives the player an arguably immersive familiarity to further tether them to the game world. Not trying to defend anything, just sayin.

[swifty1]

Well said. Realism, familiarity with the real world is exactly THIS! Actual products that actually exist being in the real world make the game feel just a tiny bit more realistic. EVERYWHERE you turn today you see ads for products, a black and green distinctly monster energy drink can in a video game is not a big deal. It’s a slippery slope sure..

[porkChop]

I understand in games that take place in the real world, it can help with immersion. But in Death Stranding the world is basically destroyed. And yet we're drinking cans of Monster Energy. That's not immersive, that's just a straight up advertisement. It just doesn't make sense considering what we've seen of the game.

[Donnie81]

advertising in games get out of here

[Magog]

Not much different than BOSS coffee in Yakuza. It's funny. Chill out, dweebs.

[Kumakai]

It’s fine where it’s appropriate. Car ads in a racing game, Sony smart phones in a modern day Sony exclusive like Spider-Man say... it’s blatantly out of place and gratuitous in a game about a mysterious dystopian world and feels completely like a cash grab. Just more Kojima “f*ck it, I’m kojima” nonsense.

[ReVibe]

Ah, MONSTER I get it. Because you fight paranormal monster thingies.
Now I kinda hope there's a livery or something for the motorcycles with Monster sponsorship so I can make ghetto motocross vids.

[Kumakai]

The more info that comes out on this game, the dumber it gets.

[KratosKonundrum]

I knew Kojima drove a lifted truck with a red, white, and blue punisher skull in the rear cab window.

[MasterCornholio]

@Kumakai

It's not that bad. It's not like an advertisement plays Everytime you consume one. It really seems that you are just looking for a reason to complain about this game even though its insignificant.

[Platformgamer]

the best product placement will always be the coke in parasite eve 2, but this can be second place ahah

[timotim]

I can only imagine the field day gamers would have if Microsoft placed Mountain Dew and Doritos as health packs and power ups in Gears 5. This is an interesting decision.

[DaDrunkenJester]

lol right? Energy drinks and coffee and such has always been a staple of Japanese games for energy replacements, but for the most part it's always been non discript products. But having an actual brand name seems strange, especially since no other products are related to our reality in America. Just seems like out of place product placement.

[AspiringProGenji]

Quantum Break already did that. It had a nissan car that the camera focused on very much early in the game lol

[timotim]

They also used Windows tablets and phones in the game. However, they were going to use those devices in the game anyway as the game was based of the real world...since Microsoft was the publisher of that game, it only made sense to use their own products. This is different though. This game is different though. Is this game even based on our universe?

[Kubark]

No wonder Kojima put Geoff Keighley in the game. His job will be handing out packets of Doritos.

[CrimsonWing69]

Oh boy, how exciting...

[Bytor]

Dam it I only drink Rockstar

[gerbintosh]

Would rather have product placement than loots boxes or other mechanics used to nickel and dime people

[Knightofelemia]

Wonder how much Monster paid for this type of advertisement I myself prefer Red Bull over Monster.

[CaptainCook]

I prefer Rockstar over Monster

[Knightofelemia]

Rockstar with vodka I like not really a Rockstar guy either

[Gotcha5]

That's so dumb... at lease you can go get the Gears 5 Rockstar Energy Drink and get the taste of the real thing and kick some Locust and Swarm ass at the same damn time.

[SyntheticForm]

Makes sense for a guy slogging it across the country I suppose.

[carcarias]

My brother drinks those while playing games anyway. It'll be extra immersive I guess :)