Hideo Kojima tried to give away free Death Stranding 2 tissues to market the game, but nobody wanted them until he tweeted about it: "Some went out of their way to avoid us"

Hideo Kojima waving near a Sam Porter Bridges statue.

You'd think, of all game developers, Hideo Kojima would be most suited to an on-the-ground personal campaign for something like Death Stranding 2. People recognize and love him, and have done for years. Even he struggles with passing out swag, though, as evidenced by his experience offloading tissues in Japan.

A publicity stunt for Death Stranding 2: On The Beach earlier this year had him glossed over by pedestrians in Tokyo. He and his team were trying to hand out branded tissues, with QR codes on the packaging leading to a special teaser for the then-upcoming sequel.