Jared Bush, head of Walt Disney Animation Studios and co-writer of Hexed, stated that after discussing the creative approach for Death Stranding 2: On the Beach with Hideo Kojima, he found a direction to revise a challenging plot point in the film.
While working on a segment of Hexed, the team struggled to find a solution for a particular plot point. Kojima introduced Bush to an approach used in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, which inspired him during their conversation. Bush summarized this cross-media inspiration with the phrase "games are movies."
As Hexed has not yet been released, Bush did not specify the exact design discussed by Kojima or reveal which part of the film corresponded to this idea. What can be confirmed is that the exchange provided inspiration for the film's creation and does not mean that Kojima was directly involved in production.
Hideo Kojima previously made a cameo appearance as IT employee Paul Moldebrandt in the Japanese dub of Zootopia 2. Hexed is Disney Animation's first original IP film since Wish in 2023, starring Hailee Steinfeld as a novice witch and scheduled for release on November 25. Kojima is currently continuing work on projects such as Physint and the horror game OD.