It’s no secret that Konami hasn’t fared too well with theMetal GearSolidfranchise since Hideo Kojima’s departure from the company in 2015. The Japanese gaming conglomerate still remains very successful in its other gaming markets, specifically in mobile gaming and gambling hardware, but has largely shied away from triple-A game development. The closest example to a triple-A game would bePro Evolution Soccer2020, but theMetal Gearfranchise has been largely dormant sinceMetal Gear Surviveflopped in 2018. However, a few times this year, rumors have spun up about a potentialMetal Gear Solidremake being orchestrated by Konami.
Fan demand for aMetal Gear Solidremake has been around for a long time, especially after the success of Bluepoint Games' remake ofShadow of the Colossus. Fan projects remastering the game in Unreal Engine have made the rounds on the internet numerous times, and subsequently received cease & desist orders from Konami.Metal Gear Solidwas incredibly innovative at the time, and it’s clear fans want to re-experience the game in a definitive, modernized version. From Konami’s perspective, aMetal Gear Solidremake would be far more lucrative compared to aMetal Gear Solid 6or sequel.
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Two Massive Problems for a Metal Gear Solid Sequel
In the hypothetical scenario that Konami does decide to develop aMetal Gear Solid 6, there would be two very big elephants in the room the publisher would need to address: Hideo Kojima would likely never sign back on (or be asked to), and most remainingMetal Gearfans have already been burned byMetal Gear Survive.
The lion’s share ofMetal Gearfans would likely never support aMetal Gearsequel without Kojima at the helm.Kojima experienced a very highly publicized and scandalous departure from Konami, despite the many years of dedication he gave while helming theMetal Gearfranchise.Metal Gear Solidnot only ushered in a whole genre of stealth action games, but the franchise continued to break the status quo of video games in strangely unique ways. It’s hard to say the franchise could ever be that impactful without Hideo Kojima involved. Even if Kojima was taken out of the equation entirely, there’s very little reason why existing fans would support newMetal Gear.
In fact, Konami tried this withMetal Gear Survive. To be fair, it wasn’t technically a mainline sequel, but it was a fully-fledgedMetal Geargame completely developed without any input from Kojima. The end result? Well, everyone knows thatMetal Gear Surviveflopped in both reception and sales. The Metacritic score on all platforms averages out to about 58-59, with the average user score on all platforms at around 1.6 out of 10. While sales numbers were never officially released by Konami, a first for the franchise,the UK reported a severe drop-off in week one salescompared to any otherMetal Geargame before it.
Metal Gear Solid Remakes Ride a Fine Line for Konami
Even then, Konami can only ride the nostalgic wave for so long before the publisher reaches the end of the existingMetal Gearfranchise. Even in a reality where Konami remakes or re-releases oneMetal Geargame every few years,the entireMetal Gearfranchise wears thin fast. Eventually Konami would run into the aforementioned reasons of not being able to expand beyond the existing canon. Konami’s never really elaborated on the company’s position in triple-A gaming now that it’s refocused much of their efforts into mobile gaming markets instead. For reference, Konami set a quarterly revenue record for its mobile gaming “Digital Entertainment” segment as of this September, citing a 31.8 percent increase year-on-year to 88.3 billion yen,according to Gamasutra.
A Sequel Would Be Controversial, a Remake Not So Much
Regardless, even if Konami decided to begin production on an officialMetal Gear Solidsequel, they run a very serious risk. Konami would need to make it explicitly clear that this sequel was different or separate from existingMetal Gear Solidcanon for anyone to give it a shot. Even then, there’s a high likelihood support for the game would be tough to come by. If the game makesany substantial connection to the existingMetal Gear Solidsaga, controversy or backlash would run the game into the ground before long. It’s not a certainty, but again, Konami’s treatment of both Hideo Kojima and theMetal Gearfranchise since his departure has been abysmal, to say the least.
Konami could certainly make that choice, as the company’s made it clear before it’snot willing to give up on theMetal Gearfranchise just yet. However, the failure ofMetal Gear Surviveis still a pretty clear indication that fan support for anyMetal Geargames without Kojima may not be present for aMetal Gear Solid 6. A remake, however, is a different story. Assuming Konami (or whichever studio develops a remake, like Bluepoint Games) were to remain faithful to Kojima’s original vision, there’s a huge demand for aMetal Gear Solidremake.
AMetal Gear Solidremake is rumored to be in development.
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