Summary
- Happy Birthday to Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes!
- The budget sandbox is officially 11 years old, and in celebration of the game’s anniversary, Hideo Kojima took to social media to share some interesting facts about the game.
- Specifically, the game was meant to be bundled with The Phantom Pain, but ended up releasing separately due to a lack of PS4 games.
- Elsewhere, he noted the desire to include as many gameplay experiences as possible within the game.
It may be hard to believe, but Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes, the playable prologue to Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain, has officially turned 11 years old. Indeed, the budget bridge between Peace Walker and Phantom Pain was released on March 18, 2014, making it fully eligible to play games rated E10+.
Related
In celebration of the game’s birthday, series creator Hideo Kojima took to social media to share some interesting tidbits surrounding the development of the game, including why exactly it released ahead of The Phantom Pain.
There Weren’t A Ton Of Games Around, Kojima Says
Taking to Twitter, Kojima shared that Ground Zeroes was meant to be a demonstration of the capabilities of the FOX engine, as well as just how an open-world stealth game could work. He also reiterated past comments about the game serving as an episodic test.
More importantly, however, is the fact that the game was being considered for release alongside The Phantom Pain. But “the PS4 was released and there were only a few titles out, so just GZ was released ahead of the others.”
Kojima isn’t necessarily wrong. The PS4 had launched a few months prior in November 2013, and by March 2014 there weren’t a ton of games around. Granted, that same week inFamous Second Son did manage to launch, giving the console more than a handful of “killer apps.”
Additionally, Kojima noted that the team “threw in as many gameplay elements as possible,” even if the episodes themselves were short. As a sandbox, Ground Zeroes does have a wide variety of ways to go about things, offering a level of replayability that isn’t seen too often in games of its story genre.
As a final note, Kojima did recognize some of the revisionism surrounding the title. “Although it is recognized now, 11 years later, there was online negativity at the time saying, ‘Selling a demo version at a low price?’ and it received the lowest rating in the MGS series,” he wrote. He’s not wrong about that last part, though game prices will seemingly always be a contentious topic. Either way, Happy Birthday, Ground Zeroes!
Next
Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ Is The Biggest Reason Yet To Buy A PS5 Pro
Sony’s enhanced console is the best way to play Assassin’s Creed Shadows.