Kojima Productions has a number of celebrities in their latest intellectual property, Death Stranding. Kojima guy-friend Geoff Keighley is in the game, along with celebrities like Guillermo del Toro, Conan O’Brien, and… the guy who runs the company that owns Famitsu.

According to Push Square, Enterbrain president, Hirokazu Hamamura, has a cameo appearance in Death Stranding along with a number of other middle-tier celebrities. Hamamura appears as a quest giver for whom you must deliver some items to.

デスストがファミ通満点だったのは、編集長が出演してたからなんだな pic.twitter.com/UpzQvt7c2P

— こうた (@k0ta0uchi) November 10, 2019

While that doesn’t sound all that special, and you’re probably what the Enterbrain president has to do with Famitsu, but it turns out that Hamamura is the former editor-in-chief at Famitsu, and Enterbrain is the parent company of Famitsu.

Do you see now how that’s a problem?

YouTuber Rich from ReviewTechUSA was quick to call it out after the news started spreading.

Japanese fans were also appalled at the idea that someone associated with the magazine giving it a perfect score also happened to appear in the game.

This is a cut and dry conflict of interest, especially since – as pointed out by Push Square – there was no disclosure that the owner of the company that publishes Famitsu is featured in Death Stranding, a game that they ardently gave a perfect score of 40/40.

Some are calling this out as a sneaky form of a paid review, but it’s more like an exchange in favors.

This looks especially egregious since Famitsu was one of the first to get a review up of Death Stranding, as reported by Gematsu and Ryokuta2089.

Hamamura actually responded to some of the criticisms of Famitsu’s review score while he appears in the game as a quest giver.

実際に「DEATH STRANDING 」を試したことのある人なら。満点はつくだろうと、普通に思うはずです。そこに他の要素なんて影響できるはずがない。そんなレベルの作品ではない。語るなら、実際に手に取ってからにして欲しいと思う。 https://t.co/duq78xKvhc

— 浜村弘一 (@Hama_Hirokazu) November 13, 2019

He basically says that if you play Death Stranding it’s hard not to arrive at a perfect score and to “test it out” before judging. I doubt that response will go over well with critics of what appears to be an apparent conflict of interest, but Hamamura is sticking to his guns… for now.

(Thanks for the news tip Guardian EvaUnit02)