Can You Play Death Stranding 2 Early With New Zealand Time Trick?

Find out if you can use the New Zealand time trick to play Death Stranding 2 early without waiting for it to release in your region.

Death Stranding 2 is just around the corner, and this sequel will also have you walk a lot. As a PlayStation exclusive, the game will release for all regions on June 25, 2025, at 12:00 AM local time. However, if you have pre-ordered the Digital Deluxe or the Collector’s Edition of Death Stranding 2, you will get early access and can play the game from June 23, 2025, at 12:00 AM. Naturally, New Zealand is the first country that will get access. As such, you might wonder if you can use the New Zealand time trick to get access to Death Stranding 2 early.

Yes, you can use the New Zealand time trick to play Death Stranding 2 early, but not in the traditional way. The PS5 is very strict with its time-zone and purchases, and that makes this process not ideal for most players. If you cannot wait for a few hours for the game to launch in your region, this article explains how you can do it.

How To Play Death Stranding 2 Early Using the New Zealand Time Trick

The only way to play Death Stranding 2 early with the New Zealand time trick is to create a new PSN account in the New Zealand region and then purchase the game in that account for the New Zealand price. Essentially, there are two rules to play the game early:

The first time-zone and region of the account must be New Zealand.
Your store prices must also be in New Zealand Dollars (NZD).

Sony is very strict with its time-zones, and the countdown to a game’s release is based on the country or region’s store that you bought the game for. As such, unless both the above conditions are met, you will not be able to play Death Stranding 2 early on your account even if you pre-ordered it (even with the New Zealand time trick.)

Death Stranding 2: Do You Need To Play Death Stranding 1 Before

What Is the New Zealand Time Trick?

A successful mission is all about getting the balance right

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach arrives next week: https://t.co/UCSayfoT7C pic.twitter.com/32rnnznYX3
— PlayStation (@PlayStation) June 21, 2025

New Zealand is the first country in the world to experience a new day. What this means is New Zealand’s time is ahead of every other country. As such, players from NZ usually get their hands on games before others. The New Zealand time trick is a simple procedure where you change your account and device’s region and time-zone. You set these parameters to New Zealand to get access to the games early.

This trick is more popular on PC and Xbox, since the restrictions on time and region are not very strict. However, this is not the case for PlayStation players since PSN has strong rules. This is mostly because the price in each region is different and can lead to unfair practices in many cases.

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