After its existence was leaked a couple of months ago, Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater has been officially announced. Its release will mark the grand return of the Metal Gear franchise after the popular Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain in 2015 and the very controversial Metal Gear Survive in 2018. Fans are very excited to see this classic get remade with modern graphics, but Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater may have a lot to prove as the release date nears.
The Metal Gear franchise used to be one of the biggest names in the stealth genre, but it has fallen from grace since the release of Metal Gear: Survive. Metal Gear Solid Delta will not only have to prove that the franchise is still as healthy as ever, but also that it can go on without Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima after he had a falling out with publisher Konami. While Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is exciting, the entire franchise may be riding on its possible success, and that may be an impossible challenge.
Metal Gear Solid Delta Has to Escape a Controversial Past
Besides Metal Gear: Survive, Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater will be one of the first modern Metal Gear games not headlined by Hideo Kojima. Kojima has been working on the Metal Gear franchise since its inception and has made a name for himself for his unique gameplay style and fantastic stories. His style helped draw so many fans to the series, to begin with, and he was even going to lend that talent to the next Silent Hill game as seen with PT after Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain, but things quickly fell apart as the release date neared.
Series publisher Konami would end up announcing a corporate restructure to respond to rapid changes in the digital entertainment industry, but it failed to mention Hideo Kojima in any press release. The publisher would then quietly remove any reference to Kojima and Kojima Productions on official Metal Gear Solid promotional materials and would end up stripping Kojima's name from Kojima Productions Los Angeles. Allegedly, Kojima and Kojima Productions senior staff were also barred from accessing corporate internet, emails, and phones.
Hideo Kojima and Konami had apparently had a massive falling out behind the scenes, and the publisher was pushing him off to the side. Konami would also bar him from attending The Game Awards after Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain was nominated, and Kojima would end up leaving the company to form a new independent studio that would go on to develop Death Stranding. After his departure, Konami would develop Metal Gear: Survive as the first game since the 1990s Snake's Revenge without any input from Kojima. It was critically panned, ended up underperforming, and may have put the series in jeopardy.
Metal Gear Sold Delta: Snake Eater will be the second Metal Gear game since Hideo Kojima's departure, and it has a lot of controversies to shake off. It not only has to live up to the standard that Kojima set, but it also must make the fanbase forget about the years of controversy and the lackluster Metal Gear: Survive. This game is Konami's chance to show fans that it can handle the IP without Kojima, but if it falls short then the Metal Gear series may be put on hold for the foreseeable future.
While Metal Gear Solid Delta is facing an immense uphill battle, it does have nostalgia going for it. The story has already been written, the gameplay has already been ironed out, and there is a massive fanbase waiting to get their hands on this remake. Remaking one of the best games in the series was a great safe choice for Konami, and now all it must do is deliver. Expectations are high for this project, and only time will tell if it is actually worth a playthrough.
Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is in development for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.