Hideo Kojima has apparently been embroiled in a slow-moving online controversy for the past week and is now trying to definitively extricate himself and his studio from the ongoing backlash. “In light of certain misunderstandings that have arisen in some media reports and on social networks, we would like to take this opportunity to accurately convey the facts,” his studio announced on social media on Wednesday.
The Death Stranding 2 director shared a photo online earlier this month in which he appeared at the Lucca Comics & Games convention in Italy alongside author and cartoonist Michele “Zerocalcare” Rech. Kojima was holding a Japanese copy of Kobane Calling, a 2015 graphic novel which illustrates the struggles of a town along the Turkish-Syrian border under threat from ISIS. Rech also recently published another graphic novel called No Sleep till Shengal about the persecution of the Yazidis.
But shortly after it was published on his social media channel, Kojima, famous for posting photo ops with the people he meets, deleted the picture.
Kojima was seemingly spurred to erase evidence of the meeting due to an online backlash surrounding Rech’s political views. Kobane Calling reportedly expresses sympathy for Syrian Kurdish YPG militia forces which, yes, fought against ISIS, but YPG is also accused by some international groups of recruiting child soldiers and is classified by Turkey and other nations as a terrorist organization (the U.S. does not consider it a terrorist group, although it’s affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) which the U.S. does classify as one). The plight of child soldiers was also a frequent theme throughout the Metal Gear series.
Disappointing backpedaling. Kobane Calling is is a firsthand account of the Kurdish resistance against ISIS during the Syrian war; Zero literally traveled to a war zone to document it. It’s only controversial if you think ISIS were the good guys in that scenario. https://t.co/N6G7KFGw3p pic.twitter.com/HwD73b8b2j
— bidonica (@bidonica1) November 12, 2025
Rech noticed and released his own video about the incident using comic illustrations. Calling Kojima the “Jesus Christ of video games,” the cartoonist said it was his publisher’s idea to share a copy of Kobane Calling with the famed game developer, who then voluntarily held it up for the photo op, according to a report by Italian outlet Fatto Quotidiano.
“I opened the internet and saw two hundred Turkish sites saying that Kojima had published a post in favor of terrorism,” Rech said in the video published over a week ago, according to a Google translation. “Of course, for the Turks, they’re all terrorists, and now they’re harassing poor Kojima.”
A week later, Kojima Productions finally addressed the incident with a statement throwing Rech under the bus. “There is no personal or professional relationship between the two individuals,” it declared. “The photo was taken briefly at the Lucca Comics & Games venue after a short introduction through an acquaintance.”
The studio continued, “Neither Mr. Kojima nor KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS had any prior knowledge or understanding of Mr. Zerocalcare’s works or political positions, and there was no intention to express agreement with, or support for, any particular stance or opinion.”
The statement exudes a surprising amount of Ubisoft “let’s not get political” energy from the team behind a recent set of very political PlayStation blockbusters.
