In a long interview with the Japanese website Livedoor News (via NeoGAF), Hideo Kojima confirmed that Death Stranding was not a flop, but it reached the commercial break-even, an important milestone, especially if it's a new IP that released just last year, in November.

Why was death stranding so bad?

Death Stranding definitely frustrated critics. The main criticisms the game received were: boring gameplay, convoluted inventory management, and a sometimes self-indulgent story. This is the first game Kojima has released since departing Konami back in 2015.

Was death stranding successful?

Death Stranding is a success with 5 million copies sold combined on both PlayStation 4 and PC, but the game didn't hit those numbers nearly as fast as other popular first-party PlayStation games.