David Hayter, the original voice of Snake in the Metal Gear series, has changed his opinion about Metal Gear Solid V, admitting he enjoyed the game after initially avoiding it due to emotional reasons. He now considers it his favorite gameplay in the series and has no ill will towards Kiefer Sutherland, who replaced him as Snake. Hayter is returning as Snake for upcoming projects, signaling a positive outlook for the franchise.
Hideo Kojima revealed that Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes was intended to be the first in an episodic series, as he wanted to try something new with game development cycles growing longer. However, players' expectations didn't align with his intentions, and the episodic delivery was felt to be too early. Kojima has since partnered with Xbox Game Studios for a new title utilizing Microsoft's cloud gaming technology, and Death Stranding 2 has been officially announced and is being worked on alongside the Xbox project.
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes was initially intended to be a prologue for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain and an experiment for a potential episodic series, according to creator Hideo Kojima. Kojima had planned to release Ground Zeroes as the start of an ongoing project, with the idea of producing and distributing episodes based on feedback. However, many people expected Ground Zeroes to be a full game upon release, leading Kojima to believe it was too early for the episodic format.
