Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is now out and a verified success, having sold 5 million copies worldwide since release. This should all but guarantee a Metal Gear Solid 6, in spite of the controversy surrounding series creator and director Hideo Kojima, and his status vis a vis Konami at the moment. And indeed, Nikkei reports (translated by Kotaku) that Konami has begun internal talks about Metal Gear Solid 6.
“When we start development, a large-scale investment will become necessary,” Konami is quoted as saying by the recent Nikkei article. Which sounds a little obvious before you consider that, wait a minute, no it doesn’t. The engine for any future Metal Gear game (that is, the single component of the games that involved the highest upfront investment) is now in place, thanks to the excellent work done on the FOX engine by Kojima and his team. The development pipeline is all in place as well. What, then, will require the investment? Hiring new development team, since Kojima Productions is formally disbanded?
Even in that case, Konami will probably outsource Metal Gear to a second rate western studio, which will probably result in a mediocre, franchise ending installment. Just like what happened with Castlevania. Just like what happened with Silent Hill.