Different, however, doesn’t have to mean that it’ll be bad- and assuming that we do get a Metal Gear Solid 6 in the next few years (or even beyond- one can always hope), there’s certain things we’d like to see it do. In this feature, we’ll be formulating a wishlist of sorts for the hypothetical Metal Gear Solid 6, where we talk about some things we’d like to see it do and not do, before, in the second half of the feature, moving on to talk about a few of the storylines it could be focussed on in any one of our ideal scenarios.

Well, first of all it needs to exist… but here are fifteen things it needs to do.

NO OPEN WORLD

Metal Gear Solid 5 is a divisive game for many reasons, and among those reasons is its adherence to an open world formula. While some feel that the ambitions were impressive and the desire to go bigger was laudable, there are many who feel that the execution just wasn’t right. For whatever reason – design choices, development crunch, issues with the publisher – The Phantom Pain’s open world felt vast and empty, even if its dozens upon dozens of systems made it fun to just mess about in it. As such, we’re hoping that should we ever get an MGS 6, it’ll eschew the open world design philosophy and go back to a linear, narrative-driven approach.

UPDATE: Konami have retweeted Downes’ tweet.

Original Story:

A couple days back, we wrote a report on a possible impending Metal Gear Solid-related announcement, something that was looking very likely thanks to some cryptic teasing by the likes of Robin Atkin Downes – the voice of Kazuhira Miller – and David Hayter – Solid Snake himself. And though we speculated in the report that an announcement for this might possibly be coming in December at The Game Awards (based on another tweet by Downes), some more information might be coming our way much sooner than that.

Downes has put up another tweet, stating that he’ll be holding a livestream on Periscope on October 21 at 2.30 PM PDT – which is just a few hours from now – and that he’ll be joined by David Hayter for the stream. “Tune in and ask some questions,” he adds, which is followed by emotes of a snake and a hamburger- which veteran Metal Gear fans will automatically know the meaning of (they’re associated with the characters of Solid Snake (obviously) and Kaz Miller (don’t ask) respectively).

So yes, it’s entirely possible that some more information is incoming. Or maybe just more teases, which seems far more likely, to be honest. But hey, something’s better than nothing, right? Either way, stay tuned to GamingBolt, and we’ll keep you updated.

https://twitter.com/Robin_A_Downes/status/1053731528356872192

So this is potentially huge. Or it could be nothing at all. But the Metal Gear fan in me wants to believe the former. Kris Zimmerman (who has been the voice director on all Metal Gear Solid games), Robin Atkin Downes (the voice of Kazuhira Miller), and David Hayter (the voice of Solid Snake and Big Boss), are teasing something “new” and “exciting”, and it’s getting a lot of Metal Gear Solid fans excited (all relevant teases are at the bottom of this post).

Downes has been quite active on social media, where he seems to be dropping a number of hints about the thing we all want to believe but won’t allow ourselves to. In one of his tweets, Downes cryptically says, “missions take time to plan”, which is followed by “#StayTuned”. In another tweet, Downes linked to an article on Escapist written by David Hayter about his journey as Solid Snake, with Downes asking, “So what happens to us now?”

Which is where it gets even more interesting. Hayter responded to this tweet, saying “message received”. Along with this, he attached a gif of Michael Corleone’s famous “every time I think I’m out, they pull me back in.”. Which definitely seems to be hinting at something…

Hayter may have teased something through other avenues as well. While speaking with Escapist during a livestream (around the 57:20 mark), Hayter talked about all the teasing being done by Downes and himself on Twitter, and how Twitter has been “exploding” as a result, before going on to say, “we’ll leave it a mystery for now”.

Another tweet by Downes also might be hinting about stuff related to this announcement (if there even is an announcement). Responding to a tweet by the official account of The Game Awards about which announcements people are hoping to see at the event, Downes said: “Perhaps some of my tweet mates can answer this question for me…” So an announcement in December is on the cards (or maybe, again, I’m reading too much into it).

Additionally, Zimmerman recently put up a tweet that promises “new exciting stuff on the horizon”, asking everyone to stay tuned. By itself, that could mean anything, and doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with Metal Gear, but Downes also recently put up a post on Instagram, a short video clip in which he’s with Zimmerman. Most of it is silly stuff with quotes from Metal Gear games, but it’s accompanied by the “#keptyouwaitinghuh” and “#metalgearsolid”.

Individually, none of these “teases” much all that much, but again, put together, it definitely looks like they’re hinting at something. It’s also worth noting that the 20th North American anniversary of Metal Gear Solid is on October 21. Perhaps it’s nothing at all, but then again, the eternal optimist in me wants to believe it’s Metal Gear Solid 6. Or maybe a Fox Engine remake of Metal Gear Solid 1. Or maybe Chapter 3 of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (never give up).

There’s nothing concrete to suggest any of those things, but maybe, just maybe– it’s not over yet.

Missions take time to plan…#StayTuned https://t.co/GpZISkmVIp

— Robin Atkin Downes (@Robin_A_Downes) October 17, 2018

@thegameawards Perhaps some of my tweet mates can answer this question for me… https://t.co/GIn0EPobe4

— Robin Atkin Downes (@Robin_A_Downes) October 6, 2018

⁦@DavidBHayter⁩ Great story #Snake…
So what happens to us now? https://t.co/3gAkJ2emF7

— Robin Atkin Downes (@Robin_A_Downes) October 19, 2018

https://twitter.com/DavidBHayter/status/1052982891183927296

https://twitter.com/TalkingDogz/status/1051724007475576832

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Robin Atkin Downes (@robinatkindownes)

Update: GamingBolt incorrectly reported the context of Geoff Keighley’s response. Jason Schreier, the author of the Kotaku article (linked below in the original post) has clarified on his Twitter feed that Keighley’s response actually meant that The Game Awards will have a more focused approach (the “thirty seconds long CG teaser trailer for the sixth entry in an ‘insane’ franchise” was used as an analogy by Keighley to convey the message). GamingBolt apologizes and regrets this error.

Original post:

The Game Awards are almost upon us, with the show less than a week away now, and we’ve been hearing a lot about how big it’s going to be, and how big the world premiers lineup is going to be. Geoff Keighley, who is, of course, the creator of the awards show, recently made some comments in light of that which will definitely get a whole lot of people really excited.

While speaking about the awards show in Kotaku’s Splitscreen podcast, Keighley was talking about how there will be plenty of major announcements at the show this year, both for things that are already officially announced, and for games no one knows about yet. Keighley went on to give an example, saying that there’s going to be a thirty seconds long CG teaser trailer for the sixth entry in an “insane” franchise.

That, of course, is quite a vague statement, but it does open up speculation for a lot of major games. For instance, something like Soul Calibur 6, or even Metal Gear Solid 6. Then there’s other franchises as well, such as The Elder Scroll 6, or even Halo 6 (though that seems a little less likely).

The Game Awards are, of course, not far away now. The show takes place on this Thursday, December 7, so we’ll find out soon enough ourselves. Stay tuned to GamingBolt for continued coverage.

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.