Hideo Kojima, the famous creator of the series Metal Gear Solid (with Konami) followed by the most recent Death Stranding, is a frequent visitor of the Tokyo Games Show. Shen he used to work at Konami he led several sessions to talk about his upcoming games. This time around, there was no special booth for Kojima Productions, apart the ones dedicated to selling merch to guests.

But Kojima could still be seen visiting several parts of the show. He happened to stop by at Komodo’s booth dedicated to the Steam Deck.

And here’s Kojima trying out Death Stranding on the Steam Deck at the show.

And holding the unit in front of Death Stranding’s poster.

Here’s how Death Stranding runs on the Deck:

While we are on the matter of Death Stranding, at the TGS 2022 the Kyoto-based company Atmoph was showcasing their new Virtual Windows with external scenes in the world of the game.

It would be fairly unlikely that Kojima has tried the Steam Deck for the first time. So why do it so publicly in front the camera? My educated guess is that this is some kind of promotion or endorsement of the Steam Deck by Kojima. Valve has probably secured the good will of most of the games shown at the show on the Deck from the publishers and developers themselves: at the end of the day it’s a win-win situation for everyone. The Steam Deck gathers attention, and their games end up being seen and played on the device.

These tweets of Kojima endorsing a product are a common occurence on his feed. Kojima is an avid Twitter user, and frequently posts about things, products, or initiatives that he likes. Since Kojima is also commercially involved with many parties, it’s not always clear what is actually sponsored from what is just a private nudge.

He was also seen with Phil Spencer after the TGS, as most people also gather for business meetings.

Kojima is also not new at the “influencer” game. He’s been embracing podcasts for a long time and used to have a Japanese weekly show on iTunes a long time ago (more than 10 years back). He’s recently started a new podcast with Spotify, called Brain Structure. Spotify has been spending some big dollars to make sure this show is well advertised.

He won’t be getting Rogan-type deals here, but it’s certainly not a small side-gig either. While I have yet to listen to the new podcasts, he has recently invited Mamoru Oshii (of Ghost in the Shell fame), so that might be a good reason to tune in at least once.

Too bad that Oshii has not made anything really remarkable in recent history, but he’s still directing new animes and live-action movies as well so who knows, there could always be a good surprise at the corner.

So there you have it. Kojima probably likes the Steam Deck. Along with many other things.