Hideo Kojima explained how the budget and team size directly influenced Death Stranding, including the decision not to show players cities from the inside.
According to Kojima, he determines the game's budget himself: even at the concept stage, the team calculates the break-even point and the necessary number of sales. For example, one can decide in advance: "If we sell one million copies, we will break even." At the same time, development is always based on a balance between the idea and available resources.
At the start of Death Stranding, the team had only four people, and then the staff did not even reach 30 employees. Therefore, it was impossible to create full-fledged cities and an RPG with a large number of characters. This led to isolated underground settlements and invisible enemies.
Kojima noted that players were not supposed to understand the real reason for the limitations: "Wait, did they just not have enough money?" Therefore, the cities were made visible from the outside, but it is impossible to enter them.
Independent budget management also allows for reallocation of funds: by spending more on Mads Mikkelsen, one can save on the environment or other roles.