"Metal Gear is dead, and you killed it" - MGS3 remake producer shares the "honest opinions" fans have sent Konami about the revival

A new broadcast from Konami has revealed a few details on Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, and the devs have taken the opportunity to share some of the feedback they've received from fans.

After soliciting questions and comments on the current Metal Gear slate a few months ago, Konami got "an even greater response than we were hoping for, and many people shared very supportive messages," as production producer Noriaki Okamura explains. "We're truly grateful for all the kind words. But on the other hand, the fans that were watching have a lot of different feelings about the series, which we understand, because we're fans too. That's why, while we did get positive feedback, we had plenty of critical responses and requests as well."

The comments were 65% neutral, 24% positive, and 11% negative. That latter category included comments like "Metal Gear is dead, and you killed it," "You can't even do a simple remaster right," "Bugs that impact gameplay should've been fixed before release," and "You'll probably do a bad job on the next game, so I'd rather you just give up."

Okamura notes that this is tough feedback, "but if this is what the fans feel, I don't blame any of them for sharing their honest opinions. And while we aren't able to individually speak to all of these concerns, I want to, first of all, assure everyone that we are listening. We pay attention to this feedback, and we take it seriously."

It's worth noting again that Konami has categorized only 11% of the responses as negative - that leaves 89% as either neutral or positive. But a line like "Metal Gear is dead, and you killed it" gets at why some longtime series fans are skeptical about Konami's revival of the series. The breakup between Konami and Hideo Kojima, long regarded as the auteur behind the espionage series, was famously messy, and the company didn't exactly put its best foot forward by converting Metal Gear Solid 5 into a follow-up like Metal Gear Survive - especially when it credited the original developers with a simple "special thanks" to "all staff."

That's one mistake Metal Gear Solid Delta won't repeat, at least. As part of this same broadcast, Okamura confirmed that the remake will credit Kojima and the original developers since "they're a part of these games too."

With big projects like Death Stranding 2 and original concepts like OD in the works, maybe it's for the best that Kojima himself has new horizons to pursue.