Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain sounded like it would be the perfect ending to the series. A story that comes full circle, filling in gaps in Big Boss’ story leading into the Les Enfant Terribles project that brought us the twin snakes. Unfortunately, a messy development and deteriorating relationship between Hideo Kojima and Konami produced a game that arguably fell a little short of its true potential. And as good as The Phantom Pain was, it did leave a little bit of a bad taste in fans’ mouths, one that Konami could rinse out with Metal Gear Solid 6.
Which begs the question: When are we getting another entry in the long-running series? The Phantom Pain made money with millions of copies sold, and fans would definitely eat up a new game. So, we could imagine Metal Gear Solid 6 must be on the horizon somewhere, right?
As it turns out, no. That doesn’t seem to be the case at all.
Metal Gear Solid 6 Release Date
As of April 2023, there’s been no word whether Konami will be moving forward with Metal Gear Solid 6. The rumor mill has been spinning about a possible remake of the third game, Snake Eater, but it’s seeming less and less likely that a Metal Gear Solid 6 will ever be made.
That being said, former Metal Gear Solid producer Noriaki Okamura had a few encouraging words to say about the future of the series and 2023. In a recent issue of Famitsu, Okamura said the year would be “a year of many announcements.” Whether that means anything about Metal Gear is definitely up for debate, but there’s still plenty of time in the year for something exciting to drop. So long as it’s not a Metal Gear Solid V pachinko machine.
What Could Metal Gear Solid 6 Be About?
As convoluted as the Metal Gear Solid series can get, it’s tough to say what the plot could even be. Something about nanomachines, memes, and genes, we’re sure. We last left Solid Snake retired and waiting for death, so it’s unlikely he’d be the star of the latest installment. Where the series could go is difficult to say, considering Kojima always had a way of throwing twists and turns at every corner.
With Snake dying and Ocelot and Big Boss finally dead, the series’ core characters that pushed the narratives forward are out of the picture. That does leave the potential for new players to enter the ring, or for Raiden to return, but any sort of guess would be massive speculation for a series that was always dishing out surprise after surprise.
Who Could Develop Metal Gear Solid 6?
This is where the most upsetting news could happen.
A Metal Gear without Kojima attached feels wrong. It felt wrong when his name was removed from all marketing materials of The Phantom Pain. And yet a sixth entry would likely move forward without the series’ original creator.
The relationship between Kojima and Konami deteriorated rather quickly during the development of The Phantom Pain, and there doesn’t seem to be much room for reconciliation. To be fair to Kojima, Konami didn’t let him finish the last entry, as there’s an entire chapter of the game available only in unfinished cutscenes and storyboards.
Beyond Kojima, the only other developer that successfully touched the Metal Gear Solid series was PlatinumGames. However, PlatinumGames’ claim to Metal Gear fame was Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, a spin-off starring the dork-turned-cyborg ninja, Raiden. Though set in the Metal Gear Solid universe, Rising was its own thing, and its fast-paced melee combat doesn’t quite align with Solid’s tactical espionage action.
As of right now, if Metal Gear Solid 6 does exist, there’s no telling who would be behind development. With several external studios tapped for current Silent Hill projects, it’s possible Konami may hand it off to another developer.
READ NEXT: Which Metal Gear Games Are Canon?
Some of the coverage you find on Cultured Vultures contains affiliate links, which provide us with small commissions based on purchases made from visiting our site. We cover gaming news, movie reviews, wrestling and much more.
