The sudden surge in journalism coverage he’s gotten in the last 5+ years are because of his dramatic departure from Konami and the Metal Gear series which his name was practically synonymous with, and he struck out on his own and made his own game studio where he makes very good, high production value AAA games that are extremely unique and experimental in nature.

Like it’s perfectly understandable to not like Death Stranding because of how niche its appeal is, but the thing is the gaming industry has become such a homogenous mess of samey, formulaic, safe games. Kojima is so relevant right now because he’s now one of if not the biggest studios that’s just making games out of passion, and not just the biggest return on investment.