After 18 years of working together, director Hideo Kojima and voice actor Tomokazu Sugita sat down for their first joint interview. To mark the PC launch of DEATH STRANDING 2: ON THE BEACH, they walked through the creative journey behind Dollman and the unusual decision to let Sugita "just be himself."

A Historic First Interview

On March 19, 2026, DEATH STRANDING 2: ON THE BEACH launched on PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store, going live at 23:30 Japan time. The PS5 version had shipped on June 26, 2025. To mark the port, game director Hideo Kojima and Tomokazu Sugita, the Japanese voice behind fan-favorite Dollman, sat down together for a joint media interview. It was the first time the two had done a formal interview side by side, despite an 18-year working relationship. Their rapport was familiar to anyone following them on social media; a proper sit-down for the press had simply never happened.

Sugita is known internationally for voicing Gintoki in Gintama and Joseph Joestar in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. Kojima needs no introduction. The pairing was a moment in itself.

The Road to "Just Be Sugita"

The most revealing part of the interview was Kojima's account of how Dollman's Japanese characterization came about. English is recorded first, and every other language inherits its line lengths. Dollman's English performer is Jonathan Roumie. As Kojima put it, the hard part was getting Sugita to come through while fitting Roumie's timing. Japanese dubbing usually chases the tone of the original; here Kojima told Sugita he could depart from it.

The two Dollmans ended up noticeably different in energy. Sugita's flies high, Kojima said; Roumie's sits lower.

The direction wasn't settled from the start. The team tried a more puppet-like delivery, tried sticking close to Roumie, tried several other approaches. The breakthrough came on a line where Dollman says "sugita hanashi da," a pun that means "that's water under the bridge" while carrying Sugita's own name. That take settled it: the Japanese Dollman would be "the Sugita everyone wants."

Deliberately letting a voice actor's real persona show, rather than burying it under character work, is uncommon in Japanese game production.

2,000 Lines, 27 Days, 60 Hours

Dollman's dialogue totals roughly 2,000 lines. Recording ran 27 days and 60 hours. Counting breaths and other non-verbal sounds, Sam's actor Kenjiro Tsuda logs the most; on pure spoken lines, Sugita is first, Tsuda second, and Nana Mizuki, who plays Fragile, third. Across the whole production, 66 performers were involved and the Japanese dub took about ten months and 103 recording days.

What made it grueling was the frequency of solo sessions. Sugita often performed alone in the booth, what the Japanese industry calls "pin-dori," with no scene partners to play off. Kojima acknowledged that was likely the hardest seat in the cast. If the first take of the day drifts slightly in energy, the rest of the session can follow it.

Dollman was also originally scripted to talk far more. Early builds had him warning about a river before Sam had even spotted it. Helpful, and corrosive to player agency. The gags posed the same problem: pulling attention away mid-task costs the player something. Spec changes also forced re-records. Kojima described the trimming as one of the project's most persistent problems.

The Bridge Between Player and Game

Sugita's account of his approach to Dollman came down to one line: make it look like I'm speaking freely, when it's carefully calculated. He read the intent in Roumie's English performance, respected the timing constraints of multi-language dubbing, then layered spontaneity on top.

That matters because of what Dollman does. As a companion who travels with Sam throughout, he sits between the player and the world, easing tension and supporting play. In Sugita's words, players shouldn't feel they need "classroom preparation or mental readiness" to enjoy a game. Dollman's presence should make the thing more breathable, like a witty friend narrating alongside you.

An Origin Story: It Started With a Son's Recommendation

The Kojima–Sugita partnership traces back to 2010's "Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker." At the time, Kojima asked his anime-savvy son which voice actors he liked. The answer: "Sugita and Mizuki (Nana)." Kojima admitted he hadn't even watched "Gintama" and didn't know who Sugita was. But the casting proved brilliant, Sugita's portrayal of Kazuhira Miller became a beloved character both in Japan and internationally.

Sugita had been following Kojima's work since elementary school. Playing a Kojima game as a kid felt like a badge of maturity, he said, the sort of thing that made you feel grown up. What stuck was the combination: cinematic, and actually fun to play.

Kojima was candid about how he works. He wants to keep working with people he likes, and doesn't want the grind of working with people he doesn't click with. He also acknowledged the need to bring fresh talent into that circle. Casting Shion Wakayama, whom he noticed in the anime Lycoris Recoil, as Tomorrow is one example.

Inside the Recording Studio

Kojima builds atmosphere in the booth through deliberate detail, down to serving Costa Rican coffee for scenes set in that region. Those touches carry meaning, Sugita noted, and work their way into the performances.

For a birthday scene, Kojima had the entire cast record together at once. The reasoning was characteristic: it would be sad if someone were missing from their own party. Actor Satoshi Mikami led the group, and the take carried the warmth of a real celebration. Across roughly ten months and 103 recording days, the cast bonded.

On ad-libs, Sugita said there are almost none; performers bring options and read each other in the room. Dollman's "Kept you waiting, huh?", the iconic Metal Gear line, was Kojima's own request. "Sugita isn't to blame for that one," he joked.

Kojima singled out Yuu Kobayashi, who plays the doctor, for turning up as a different person entirely and delivering lines that weren't on the page. He said he almost wanted to ship that version.

What's New in the PC Version

The PC port, co-developed with Nixxes Software, unlocks the PS5's 60fps cap, supports 21:9 ultrawide and 32:9 super-ultrawide monitors, adds DLSS 4 and FSR 4 upscaling and frame generation, ray-traced reflections and ambient occlusion, DualSense support with full haptics and adaptive triggers over a wired connection, and full keyboard and mouse controls. The 21:9 support also arrives on PS5 from March 19.

A free update landed on PS5 the same day. It adds the punishing "to the wilder" difficulty, which cannot be changed once started; a new VR training mission, "Escape from the Mysterious Space," where you can rematch a certain man and unlock a bandana and an extra porter suit; a chiral creature (a cat) aboard the DHV Magellan; and Photo Mode support for photographing it.

Nixxes staff have said resource management is where "to the wilder" bites. Batteries and boots wear out fast; boots that would survive a normal run break repeatedly, which pushes spare soles and gear you'd otherwise ignore into rotation. The difference is subtle early and widens sharply in the back half.

Sugita's Take as a Gamer

As a lifelong gamer himself, Sugita shared his personal impressions after playing the finished game. He found it genuinely fun, even knowing the story surprises from his involvement in production. But what struck him most was how his perspective on games has shifted with age. Where he once identified with protagonists, he now gravitates toward mentor and parental figures, roles he increasingly plays professionally. This added a layer of emotional resonance to his experience of DS2's story.

Sugita encouraged PC players to dive in regardless of entry point. "You can play DS2 first and then go back to the original, or play them in order. There are no restrictions on how to enjoy it," he said.

In Japan, voice acting is treated as a deeply respected art form, and the relationship between game directors and their voice cast receives significant fan attention. The Kojima-Sugita partnership is a creative bond built over nearly two decades. How much attention does voice acting in games receive in your country? Do you have any favorite game voice performances or localization stories? Share your thoughts!

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