Hideo Kojima has taken to Twitter to share some behind-the-scenes details on Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes on its 9th anniversary, revealing the game was initially an experiment for a series of episodic releases.
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes was a prologue to 2015’s Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, which was an open-world title featuring Big Boss infiltrating enemy bases in Afghanistan. Ground Zeroes was far smaller in scale, but nonetheless acted as a precursor to the gameplay mechanics introduced in The Phantom Pain.
Ground Zeroes was originally planned as a prologue to Metal Gear Solid V, an important introduction to root Snake’s vengeance in the main story, and the theme of MGSV is retribution Since PS4 was launched at the end of 2013, the game was pre-released with the PS4, Fox Engine and open world to introduce the new Metal Gear Solid and also to provide feedback to the main game in mind.
The development of a full game takes 4-5 years [and] times change during production. So I thought of offering an episodic format, like a streamed drama, where one episode is produced and distributed. Ground Zeroes was meant to be an experiment.
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes was released in March 2014 for PS3, PS4, PC, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. You can read our full review here.
The Phantom Pain was the last proper Metal Gear Solid game released and Kojima-san’s final entry in the series before he left Konami and formed Kojima Productions. However, Konami is heavily rumored to be reviving the series with a remake of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.