The review embargo for Death Stranding 2: On the Beach was reported to lift on Monday, June 23, 2025, at 5:00 AM PDT (12:00 UTC). That was three days before the game’s PS5 launch on June 26, 2025. The time comes from a community post, not an official Sony or Kojima Productions notice, so treat it as a reported time rather than a confirmed one.
The reported embargo time, converted for each region
The embargo time was posted in a NeoGAF review thread, which stated that the embargo ends on June 23 at 5:00 AM PDT, 7:00 AM CDT, 8:00 AM EDT, and 1:00 PM BST. The post was written by an unidentified community member. It was not attributed to Sony Interactive Entertainment, Kojima Productions, or a named outlet.
| # | Preview | Product | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
|
Death Stranding Director's Cut - Playstation 5 | $32.95 | Buy on Amazon |
| 2 |
|
METAL GEAR SOLID Δ: SNAKE EATER TACTICAL ED – PS5 | $37.49 | Buy on Amazon |
| Time zone | Reported embargo time, June 23, 2025 |
|---|---|
| Pacific (PDT, UTC-7) | 5:00 AM |
| Central (CDT, UTC-5) | 7:00 AM |
| Eastern (EDT, UTC-4) | 8:00 AM |
| Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) | 12:00 PM |
| British Summer Time (BST, UTC+1) | 1:00 PM |
All five entries describe the same moment. If you are converting the time for another region, use UTC as the reference point, since the source gives the embargo as 12:00 UTC.
What the official launch dates confirm
Official sources establish the surrounding release timeline, though they do not state the embargo itself. Sony Interactive Entertainment announced the PS5 release date as June 26, 2025. Kojima Productions lists that same PS5 date and gives a PC release date of March 19, 2026. Both dates are now in the past, as of this article’s October 2026 update.
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Kojima Productions’ June 23, 2025 announcement covered a separate matter: buyers of the Digital Deluxe Edition who purchased by midnight local time on June 24 could start playing 48 hours before the June 26 launch. That early-access window is not the review embargo. Reviews could be published on June 23, three days before the PS5 launch, and the early-access offer applied only to qualifying Digital Deluxe purchases.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to read the embargo claim
The embargo time has one source, and that source is a community post. No official Sony or Kojima Productions statement was found that confirms the 5:00 AM PDT time, and no named journalist or outlet was identified as the source of the notice. The time is consistent with the official launch timeline, but consistency with the launch schedule does not verify the exact hour.
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- The story, characters, voice acting, gameplay, and music that made the original a sensation return, remade for modern consoles
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If you need to cite the time, attribute it as “reported” and name the community thread as its origin. If you need an authoritative confirmation, the most useful checks are the official Sony and Kojima Productions announcements for the June 2025 launch and the review publications that ran reviews that week, which may note when their reviews were allowed to go live.
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Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
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