It’s become the same song and dance with Kojima now- a new Metal Gear game releases, he claims that it will be his very last one, a few years later, he is back to working on a new one, it releases, he claim it will be his last one… and so the cycle continues.
And predictably enough, Kojima has come out and said that The Phantom Pain will be the last Metal Gear game that he will be working on, that even if there are any more games in the series in the future, as far as he is concerned, the story he wanted to tell is over, and the saga complete.
“I always say this will be my last Metal Gear,” Kojima said, “but the games in the series that I’ve personally designed and produced–Metal Gear on MSX, MG2, MGS1, 2, 3, 4,Peace Walker, and now MGSV–are what constitute a single Metal Gear Saga. With MGSV, I’m finally closing the loop on that saga.”
“In that sense, this will be the final Metal Gear Solid,” Kojima continued. “Even if the Metal Gear franchise continues, this is the last ‘Metal Gear.'”
In a sense, this almost constitutes a spoiler, as it pretty much confirms that, assuming Kojima is telling the truth (which admittedly is not always a given) then The Phantom Pain will end with Solid Snake’s infiltration of Outer Heaven.
Of course, there is also the simple fact that Kojima has said he will be done with Metal Gear since Sons of Liberty back on the PS2, but he always goes back on that; at most, he might be taking a break this time, specially with the upcoming Silent Hills reboot that he is working on, but I don’t see him just quitting Metal Gear entirely.