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Death Stranding ODRADEK Trademark Adds Another Mystery to Kojima’s Universe
From lonely deliveries across a fractured America to films, animation and experiences extending beyond traditional games, Death Stranding has become far bigger than Kojima Productions’ debut project. Following the acclaimed Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, the universe is already expanding through an A24 live-action film, Death Stranding Mosquito and the Disney+ animated series Death Stranding Isolations.
Now another name has appeared. Kojima Productions filed a Japanese trademark application for Death Stranding ODRADEK on October 19, application number 2026-122299. The registration covers broad categories encompassing games, entertainment, and technology, but gives no clear indication of what Kojima Productions intends to use the name for.
Takes Its Name From Sam’s Scanner
Anyone who has spent time hauling cargo through Death Stranding should immediately recognise the name. The Odradek is Sam Porter Bridges’ distinctive shoulder-mounted scanner, used to survey terrain and detect nearby threats, including BTs.
Its mechanical arms and frantic movements have become one of the series’ most recognisable pieces of technology, making it an unusually specific choice for a standalone trademark. That specificity is also why the filing has attracted attention. The application contains nothing to suggest a new game, accessory, or adaptation, and trademark filings routinely cover broad categories to protect future uses.
However, one existing Kojima Productions project makes the Death Stranding ODRADEK name particularly interesting.
Kojima Productions and Niantic Spatial Are Already Building Something New
In September 2025, Kojima Productions announced a technology partnership with Niantic Spatial to bring Hideo Kojima’s storytelling into the real world through the company’s geospatial AI technology. The two companies have still not revealed exactly what form that experience will take.
Kojima offered the biggest clue himself at the time, describing the concept as Death Stranding in the real world, where people could interact with their physical surroundings and connect with others. Niantic Spatial’s technology focuses on understanding and mapping real locations, making an Odradek-inspired scanning concept a natural thematic fit.
That doesn’t confirm that Death Stranding ODRADEK is the name of the Niantic Spatial project, but the connection is far more grounded than speculation about an entirely new mainline game.
Death Stranding Keeps Expanding Beyond Games
Whatever Death Stranding ODRADEK becomes, it arrives as Kojima Productions rapidly broadens the Death Stranding universe.
The A24 film is developing its own story within the Death Stranding world, while Death Stranding Isolations will bring another original story to Disney+ in 2027. The studio is also developing the animated film Death Stranding Mosquito.
For now, Kojima Productions has made no announcement connecting the new trademark to any of those projects or its work with Niantic Spatial. Still, when the trademark takes its name from a device built around scanning and understanding the environment, while Kojima is simultaneously working with a company specialising in mapping the real world, it is difficult not to wonder whether the next strand is already starting to take shape.
