Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain will both be prequels to the first game in the series – and even predates the original Metal Gear games – taking place after Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. Oh, and it will follow Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, which released on the PS Vita. With all of these entries spread across the series’ timeline, creator Hideo Kojima revealed to Kotaku that there are likely to be some minor inconsistencies in the canon.
“I’m pretty sure that the guys at Star Wars had the same issues. When you try to write something that was supposed to be in the middle there will be some inconsistencies when you go into very small details.
“The most important part is writing something that is fun, something that is impressive, something that is better than it was before. So sometimes in the interest of doing this, of having a better experience, we sacrifice some consistencies in the story. I hope the fans and players understand this, but I need to write the best we can, even if there are some small discrepancies.”
Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes will be launching in early 2014 for current and next-gen consoles, and will serve as a prologue to The Phantom Pain. Depending on its success, Metal Gear Solid V could either release in 2014 or 2015 according to Konami.