Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes ‘Was Meant to Be an Experiment’ for Episodic Format

Hideo Kojima originally considered Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes as an experiment for an episodic format. It was a prologue to 2015’s Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.

Kojima went into more detail about Ground Zeroes development for its nine year release anniversary. “In fact, it was my big intention to launch GZ. The development of a full game takes four to five years. Times change during production,” Kojima said on Twitter (below). “So I thought of offering an episodic format, like a streamed drama, where one episode is produced and distributed. GZ was meant to be an experiment.”

He also explained the Metal Gear Solid V prologue was an introduction to Snake’s vengeance in The Phantom Pain’s story and its theme of retribution. Kojima noted that since the PlayStation 4 was launched at the end of 2013, the game was released with the console, the game’s Fox Engine, and an open-world concept in order to introduce the franchise’s new direction with the upcoming Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain and gather feedback from Ground Zeroes before The Phantom Pain’s release.

The Metal Gear Solid franchise has been on hold since 2018’s Metal Gear Survive, which Kojima wasn’t involved in since he left the company back in 2015. However, there have been rumors of the franchise coming back in some sort of fashion, as Konami is reportedly remaking Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.

In IGN’s Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes review, we said, “Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes is a short but challenging game, and those willing to cast aside conventional expectations will find a lot more here than first glance might suggest.”

George Yang is a freelance writer for IGN. He’s been writing about the industry since 2019 and has worked with other publications such as Insider, Kotaku, NPR, and Variety.

When not writing about video games, George is playing video games. What a surprise! You can follow him on Twitter @Yinyangfooey