Here’s to you, Kojima & Company: The iconic history of Metal Gear

Metal Gear Online 3, the multiplayer portion of last month’s Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, released this week—it could be the last we see of the nearly thirty-year-old game series. For the uninitiated, the Metal Gear series is a third-person, action-adventure, stealth video game.

Hideo Kojima, the series creator and head of Kojima Productions (a subsidiary of Konami), has maintained a leading role in the franchise’s development since its beginning, serving as writer, director and game designer on all of its canonical releases. In this time Kojima and his team have developed nine installments of the Metal Gear Series. Just like Mr. Kojima, commercial and critical success have been a part of each release.

Metal Gear V is no exception to critical acclaim, residing among the top reviewed in the series, with many reviewers claiming it to be the best Metal Gear ever. Particularly in terms of gameplay and mechanics, this is undoubtedly the best Metal Gear has ever felt. The open world and player freedom make this the most fun I’ve had with the series. The absence of the clunky, tank-like controls of Metal Gears past, however, is not missed.

That’s not to say that up until this point the controls were defective. They got the job done, served their purpose—that is, they acted as a vehicle for delivering an intoxicating narrative full of flawed and fascinating characters.

Metal Gear is infamous for its seemingly unnavigable story and nonlinear, episodic storytelling. The satisfaction of filling in the blanks with each successive game is an experience very few franchises can claim to provide. Perhaps its most notorious characteristic, though, is its amount of cutscenes—Metal Gear Solid 4 has eight hours of cutscenes.

With this magnitude of content, a distilled synopsis doesn’t do it any justice, however, this is an attempt: The story revolves around Big Boss, the greatest soldier to ever walk the battlefield, and his three clones. They live in a world that is run by all-controlling organizations that operate in the shadows of the most powerful countries. Each entity tries to create a world in their image. The power struggle between them usually revolves around building-sized, nuclear robots known as metal gear.

Despite sounding like a campy anime, the games have explored several severe themes, such as the implications of nuclear proliferation, the traumatizing effects of war, government control information, and racial violence. This is juxtaposed by the series’ pervading Japanese peculiarity and distinct sense of humor. This formula culminates in a world that begs investigation.

The first 3D outing for the series, Metal Gear Solid, spawned a series that would go on to be one of the best selling video game franchises of all time. The series has sold 39 million copies worldwide and MGSV is poised to sell several million itself.

With such a historically revered game, fans’ expectations are demanding. This was the scene on the eve of Metal Gear Solid V’s launch. Once players managed to work through the forty plus hour experience, many hardcore fans felt the game’s story didn’t live up to its predecessors’. Some players have faulted the game for a lack of story content and a rushed ending.

Convinced that there had to be more, fans began to dig around in the game’s files. Evidence of a third chapter was found, except it is nonexistent in the game. On top of that, a deleted scene on the bonus features DVD has prompted further speculation that the game is incomplete.
Why was so much content potentially cut? Some explanation might come from behind the scenes, and as often happens in the video game industry, the development process is just as fascinating as the fictional narrative.

Konami’s activity in the video games medium has been waning over the last several years. In response to the increasing cost of triple-A game development, the company has reigned in it’s traditional video game operations while expanding its gaming casinos, or pachinko parlours, and fitness club enterprises.
The past year has been particularly turbulent for Konami. An apparent power struggle between Kojima and Konami resulted in Kojima being pushed out of the company. Konami had his name removed from the game’s promotional material and box art, as a result. Perhaps even more troubling was a newspaper report from earlier this year that uncovered the company’s reprehensible treatment of its employees. It was found that Konami has created and Orwellian-like structure in its development studios — hopefully the irony is not lost on them. Developers are subject to camera surveillance, restricted access to internet and email, as well as disciplinary demotions — on one occasion a staff member was demoted for liking a colleague’s Facebook post about finding a new job.

What does this all mean for Metal Gear? Firstly, it’s not hard to infer that this situation might have negatively affected MGSV. In terms of Konami’s potential future in video games, however, it’s hard to say because their statements have created a cryptic mess.

Early this year, the corporation stated that mobile gaming was the future. Around the same time, they said they were staffing up for a new Metal Gear project. Recently, an ex employee stated that Konami is ceasing triple-A game development except on its soccer franchise, PES. Soon afterwards, a Konami PR representative refuted such claims, claiming that the corporation is still committed to the console sphere. The latest piece of this blunder was uncovered on Monday — a trademark for “Big Boss” was recently filed by Konami Parlour Entertainment, Konami’s pachinko manufacturing subsidiary.

Many fans would prefer for the series to be left alone, lest it be disparaged, re-emerging as a phone game, or worse, a Japanese slot machine. Some have been scathing in their response to Konami’s business practices in defence of their beloved franchise.

However, I offer another approach, one that celebrates the storied history of Metal Gear. If any more Metal Gear-related content is released, it seems it won’t have any bearing on Kojima’s works. Fans should put down their pitchforks, pick up a drink and pour one out for Kojima Productions — a recognition of the legacy it has left on the world video games. Either that, or just down a drink and throw up their hands. Passionate players often forget that the videogame industry is a business. Sometimes it can be cruel, like Konami’s treatment of its employees, which it should be condemned for. Nonetheless, protecting shareholder interests is the reality of business, and condemning a corporation for acting like a corporation is a naive perspective.

Enough trudging through the muck left in Konami’s wake. Whatever happens to the franchise, I’ll always remember my experience with the series. So here’s to Kojima and everyone who helped craft the captivating world of Metal Gear.