Kojima And Ma Dong-seok's Long-Running Friendship Precedes PHYSINT Role
The article lays out a five-year relationship between Kojima and Ma Dong-seok, showing that the actor's PHYSINT role follows an established collaboration rather than a new introduction.
Reporting from 1 source: Game Spark.
Game Spark traced the history of Hideo Kojima and Ma Dong-seok's relationship in its Tonari no Hideo column, noting the actor's confirmed appearance in the newly announced PHYSINT. The column recounts a relationship stretching back to 2021, when Kojima mentioned the actor on X, through a 2022 Zoom call and a 2023 visit to Kojima Productions' studio, before Ma Dong-seok's cameo in DEATH STRANDING 2: ON THE BEACH.
Game Spark's Tonari no Hideo column analyzed the actor who has appeared beside Hideo Kojima in recent photos: Ma Dong-seok. The column confirms his role in the newly announced PHYSINT and reconstructs how the two met, using Kojima's own social media posts as a timeline.
Ma Dong-seok first came up on Kojima's X account in 2021 during a review of the film Ashfall. A 2022 Zoom call followed, arranged through the actor's agent after Kojima mentioned being a fan. In 2023, the two posed together in front of the Ludens statue. Kojima Productions later cast Ma Dong-seok in a cameo for DEATH STRANDING 2: ON THE BEACH, released in 2025. The column also notes Ma Dong-seok's prior game work in PUBG and his lead role in the announced GANG OF DRAGON from Nagoshi Toshihiro.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.