{"id":48873,"date":"2025-06-11T01:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-10T16:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=48873"},"modified":"2025-06-10T18:36:51","modified_gmt":"2025-06-10T09:36:51","slug":"hideo-kojima-was-harassed-by-hordes-of-autograph-hounds-at-sxsw-2025-it-was-like-a-zombie-movie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/hideo-kojima-was-harassed-by-hordes-of-autograph-hounds-at-sxsw-2025-it-was-like-a-zombie-movie\/","title":{"rendered":"Hideo Kojima was harassed by hordes of autograph hounds at SXSW 2025. \u201cIt was like a zombie movie\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Hideo Kojima attended the SXSW festival in March 2025, holding a special panel on Kojima Production\u2019s upcoming game <strong>Death Stranding 2: On the Beach<\/strong>. In one of his recent essays for <a href=\"https:\/\/ananweb.jp\/categories\/entertainment\/52456\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">An-An Web<\/a>, he gave fans a glimpse of his personal life during that period \u2013 that is, multiple episodes of him being stalked by what he describes as aggressive autograph hounds. Autograph hounds or \u201cgraphers\u201d are people who usually approach celebrities and take as many autographs from them as possible with the intent to sell them for high prices on platforms such as eBay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"960\" height=\"540\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/20250610-488730002.jpg\" alt=\"Death Stranding 2: On the Beach gameplay. Astronaut in front of the moon.\" class=\"wp-image-48884\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/20250610-488730002.jpg 960w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/20250610-488730002-380x214.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/20250610-488730002-768x432.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Kojima starts his essay describing what awaited him at the Los Angeles International Airport when he was heading to this year\u2019s SXSW \u2013 a group of people begging for autographs. As Kojima explains, some of them did look like actual fans, while others, according to him, didn\u2019t fit into the profile of what he considers a \u201cgamer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He noticed a lot of them were holding panels with an image of him or an MGS visual printed on them, \u201cprobably downloaded from some random internet website. All of them exactly the same.\u201d According to Kojima, actual fans usually just ask for a picture together, not a whole bunch of autographs. That is when he realized: \u201cThese guys are no fans; they are autograph hounds.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"960\" height=\"540\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/20250610-488730003.jpg\" alt=\"Death Stranding 2: On the Beach gameplay. Desert. \" class=\"wp-image-48883\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/20250610-488730003.jpg 960w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/20250610-488730003-380x214.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/20250610-488730003-768x432.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>On the second day, he headed back to the airport to fly to Texas, with the same group of people waiting for him \u2013 now in even larger numbers. They apparently followed him all the way to the check-in counter, and he ended up succumbing to the pressure and giving his autograph to all of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Arriving in Texas, another group of autograph hounds was waiting for him, and this time, he refused their requests. In response the crowd turned aggressive, chasing him and complaining about how he \u201csigned the ones in LA.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sometime before arriving at his hotel in Texas, he received information that a group of people was waiting for him in the lobby, so he decided to go through the back entrance. However, as soon as he opened the car door, a woman of a familiar face rushed towards him. He ran straight towards the elevator with the security guards acting as shields for him, but the woman followed him, trying to forcefully enter the elevator. \u201cIt was like I was in a Zombie movie\u201d, he writes. Apparently, one of his security guards, an ex-special forces member nicknamed \u201cS,\u201d had to stay up all night guarding his room, and he stayed by Kojima\u2019s side during the whole SXSW festival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"960\" height=\"540\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/20250610-488730001.jpg\" alt=\"Death Stranding 2: On the Beach gameplay. On the ship.\" class=\"wp-image-48882\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/20250610-488730001.jpg 960w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/20250610-488730001-380x214.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/20250610-488730001-768x432.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>After SXSW had finished, Kojima headed back to LA, and, to no one\u2019s surprise, yet another group of autograph hounds ambushed him on the other side of the boarding bridge. \u201cS\u201d helped ward off the self-proclaimed \u201cfans,\u201d and the airport staff was kind enough to offer him a VIP lounge so he could hide until his next plane arrived. He tightly hugged \u201cS,\u201d whom he had formed an attachment to, and they parted ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAlthough he left the military, he is currently involved in a top-secret mission. That\u2019s why he\u2019s not allowed to reveal his real name or identity. We couldn\u2019t even take a photo [together]. Of course, having conversations about personal matters was also out of the question. However, even if I forget about all the faces of those \u201cfake fans\u201d or the awful things they did to me \u2013 I\u2019ll never forget him.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The autograph hounds tracked down Hideo Kojima&#8217;s flights and hotel, chased him down hallways and got aggressive when he refused.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":48885,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-48873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Hideo Kojima was harassed by hordes of autograph hounds at SXSW 2025. \u201cIt was like a zombie movie\u201d - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The autograph hounds tracked down Hideo Kojima&#039;s flights and hotel, chased him down hallways and got aggressive when he refused.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/hideo-kojima-was-harassed-by-hordes-of-autograph-hounds-at-sxsw-2025-it-was-like-a-zombie-movie\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hideo Kojima was harassed by hordes of autograph hounds at SXSW 2025. \u201cIt was like a zombie movie\u201d - 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