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Death Stranding's Hideo Kojima wins Guinness World Record for social media following

The beloved video game director is the most followed on Twitter and Instagram.

Sean Keane Former Senior Writer
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Norman Reedus and Hideo Kojima

Hideo Kojima (right, with Death Stranding's Normas Reedus) is the most followed video game director on Twitter and Instagram.

Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC

Death Stranding may have divided opinion, but its director is unquestionably a social media superstar. Hideo Kojima was recognized as the most followed video game director on Twitter and Instagram by Guinness World Records on Saturday, a day after his PS4 exclusive hit shelves.

Kojima, who became famous for creating the Metal Gear Solid games, has 2.8 million followers on his English Twitter account and 923,000 on Instagram. The award only says that Kojima has 888,000 Instagram followers, suggesting that there's been a jump in popularity since Guinness verified the number on Nov. 8. 

His Japanese Twitter has 813,500 followers, but Guinness didn't include that number -- its criteria only focused on a single account on each platform. The award is also specific to his role as a director, since Minecraft creator Markus "Notch" Persson has 3.7 million followers.

If you already follow Kojima on either platform, you'll know that he typically talks about movies he's seen, Blu-rays he's picked up and the food he's been eating. Lately, he's focused on retweeting praise and fan art for Death Stranding or sharing shots of famous visitors to his studio.  

Death Stranding is the legendary director's first game since his dramatic 2015 split from Metal Gear Solid publisher Konami. It's also his first non-Metal Gear Solid game since 1994's Policenauts, so he's been in promotion overdrive for it.

First published at 4:28 a.m. PT.
Updated at 4:57 a.m. PT: Adds more detail.

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