10 Years of Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain — Remembering Hideo Kojima's Last MGS

On September 1, 2015, the long-awaited fifth installment of the Metal Gear Solid series was released, a turning point for the franchise and the career of Hideo Kojima. During the development of this ambitious project, the famous game designer finally fell out with the management of Konami, as a result of which he and many developers left the company. Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain came out unfinished — in the sense that not all the ideas Kojima had in mind were realized. Nevertheless, despite this, many fans still consider the game the best in the series, and for good reason. To mark the anniversary, let’s recall the strengths and weaknesses of The Phantom Pain, the project’s unusual marketing campaign, and the breakup between Kojima and Konami.

In the gaming industry, Hideo Kojima has established himself not only as one of the leading visionaries but also as a major fan of trolling. This reputation emerged as early as Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, which was marketed before release as Solid Snake’s next big adventure, only to turn out to be the story of a new protagonist, Raiden.

The marketing of The Phantom Pain was also full of surprises. In September 2012, Ground Zeroes was presented — the next game in the Metal Gear Solid series. It was used to demonstrate the new FOX engine’s capabilities. Journalists tried to find out from Kojima whether Ground Zeroes was the fifth entry in the franchise, but he avoided giving a direct answer, calling it a “prologue.”

Then, a couple of months later, at the Spike Video Game Awards, a trailer was shown for a mysterious game called The Phantom Pain, allegedly developed by an unknown Swedish studio, Moby Dick. The debut trailer was filled with surrealism and oddities, such as burning whales — MGS fans immediately noticed Kojima’s signature style in this type of imagery.

Gamers quickly concluded that the soldier crawling across the hospital floor resembled Big Boss in silhouette, and that the graphics matched the FOX engine. In addition, the title image of The Phantom Pain had strange cutouts in the letters. Fans discovered that the words Metal Gear Solid 5 fit perfectly into the gaps.

The promo materials also featured the phrase “From FOX, two phantoms were born,” which fans interpreted as confirmation of the existence of two new MGS games. On top of that, players realized that the name of the head of Moby Dick Studio, Joakim Mogren, was an anagram of Kojima. Journalist Geoff Keighley even conducted an interview with Joakim, who appeared with his face covered in bandages.

At GDC 2013, all the fan theories were confirmed: Moby Dick Studio and Joakim Mogren did not exist, and The Phantom Pain was actually Metal Gear Solid 5, while Ground Zeroes was its short prequel.

In early 2015, reports emerged that Hideo Kojima had clashed with Konami’s management over the ballooning budget of MGS5. The game had been in development for more than five years, with a production cost exceeding $80 million — considered astronomical at the time, especially for the Japanese game industry. Particularly for Konami, whose executives wanted to move away from large-scale games and focus on mobile projects as well as pachinko machines, which are popular in Japan. Kojima strongly disagreed with this new course and remained committed to the idea of AAA projects.

In March 2015, all marketing materials for Metal Gear Solid 5 began removing Kojima’s name, and his team was placed under corporate oversight, with restricted access to email and PR communications.

After the game’s release, the developers continued working on patches, but Kojima disappeared from the public eye: Konami representatives claimed he was “on vacation.” During The Game Awards 2015, The Phantom Pain won the award for Best Action/Adventure, but Hideo Kojima could not accept it in person: Geoff Keighley stated live on air that Konami’s lawyers forbade him from attending the event.

Immediately after his contract with Konami expired, Kojima announced the founding of his new independent studio, Kojima Productions. The conflict with his former employers led to the removal of part of The Phantom Pain’s planned content due to budget restrictions, and Silent Hills, the reboot of the cult horror franchise that Kojima was working on, was canceled.

At launch, The Phantom Pain received extremely positive reviews from the press and gamers, but over time it came to be seen in a more mixed light. Unsurprisingly, it became especially controversial for hardcore Metal Gear Solid fans. Whether it’s a masterpiece or not largely depends on what you value most in games.

For MGS fans who cared most about the story, the fifth entry often proved disappointing. Previous games in the series were built on long cutscenes, codec conversations, and tangled drama between numerous characters. In The Phantom Pain, however, the story is presented far more simply — key events are often delivered through cassette tapes rather than cutscenes, and the total length of cinematics is estimated at around 4–5 hours, several times less than Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.

Players also fairly criticized the fact that Konami did not allow Kojima to implement all the planned content for The Phantom Pain. For example, the second chapter of the game, instead of offering new missions, mostly repeats earlier ones with higher difficulty. In addition, an important mission, number 51, titled Kingdom of the Flies, was cut, leaving the story hanging and unfinished.

Despite the criticism, almost everyone agrees that in terms of gameplay, Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain represents the pinnacle of the series — a culmination and a collection of the best ideas and concepts that MGS designers had worked on for decades.

Unlike previous linear entries, the fifth game is a true sandbox with huge open levels and countless options for completing missions. Equipment for the main character Venom Snake, time of day, weather, companion choice, and how you approached previous missions all play a role. The AI in The Phantom Pain dynamically adapts to the player’s style. For example, if you often carry out missions at night, when Snake is harder to spot, enemies will begin using night vision goggles, and if you take down enemies with frequent headshots, soldiers will start wearing helmets more often.

MGS5 impresses with its complex interconnected mechanics and systems, as well as insane attention to detail. Almost any bizarre idea that might occur to a gamer is possible here. We’re talking about a game where even commanding your horse to defecate on the road can serve as a tactical trick: if an enemy vehicle drives over such a “trap,” it will skid straight into a rock.

The Phantom Pain’s sandbox is often compared to projects like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, so it’s no surprise that it leaves the strongest impression on players who value replayability and gameplay variety over narrative twists. From this perspective, no other stealth action game has managed to surpass Metal Gear Solid 5.

Kojima’s departure from Konami was a gut punch for MGS fans, and the fifth game itself a reminder of what gamers had lost. However, as time has shown, things turned out not so badly.

Kojima gained greater creative freedom and, over the years, released two games in his signature style — auteur-driven and high-budget. This year’s Death Stranding 2: On the Beach has every chance of winning Game of the Year.

In recent years, Konami has finally acknowledged its past mistakes and decided to return to the game industry. The company has not only revived the Silent Hill series but also MGS, releasing just last week a worthy remake of the classic third installment titled Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater.

The future looks fairly bright for MGS fans. Konami wants to release new games in the series, and while without Kojima they won’t be quite the same, it’s equally important not to forget that the visionary himself, together with Sony, is working on a new spy thriller that may well become the spiritual successor to Metal Gear.

Be that as it may, Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain will forever remain an “unfinished masterpiece.” Sad in its own way, yet after so much time, there’s no point dwelling on “what might have been if not for the conflict between Konami and Kojima.” It’s better to value it for what it offers: for instance, its astonishingly deep gameplay, which has no true equals.

And what about you? Do you feel nostalgic for MGS5? Share your thoughts in the comments.