Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gaming
  3. News

Metal Gear Solid Ground Zeroes may not release due to “risky” themes

Anthony John Agnello
By
metal gear solid 5
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Check out our review of Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes.

Metal Gear Solid Ground Zeroes, the latest game in Hideo Kojima and Konami’s long-running military drama that debuted in a flashy demo last summer, may not come out at all according to the idiosyncratic director. At least not in its current incarnation, said Kojima. During a roundtable question and answer session recounted by Videogamer, Kojima elaborated on some of the subjects tackled by Ground Zeroes that may make it a risky proposition. Gamers might not buy it and Konami may be reluctant to publish it. It’s not because of grotesque violence, but what Kojima considers to be “mature” themes.

Recommended Videos

“Video games as a medium haven’t matured much at all in the last twenty-five years,” said Kojima, “It’s always about killing aliens and zombies. Not that I don’t like those kinds of games. They are fun, but I think games have a long way to go before they can mature. Over the past twenty-five years I have tried to work with the Metal Gear series to introduce more mature themes, but it hasn’t gotten there yet. Compared to movies and books it still has a long way to go.”

Related

Ground Zeroes apparently will be the evolutionary step Kojima has been trying to take with Metal Gear Solid for some years.

“That’s precisely what I want to try and tackle with Ground Zeroes. Honestly I’m going to be targeting a lot of taboos, a lot of mature themes that really are quite risky. I’m not even sure if I’m going to be able to release the game, and even if I did release the game then maybe it wouldn’t sell because it’s too much.”

Metal Gear Solid is notorious for its bombastic melodrama. This is a game series where the president of the United States is a super solider clone wearing tentacle armor and one-handed Russian cowboys deliver soliloquies on the nature of war. It has dealt with serious issues within that silliness, though, tackling nuclear proliferation, the rise of private military corporations, genetic manipulation, and child soldiers. Kojima’s statements here suggest that he may be ready to step away from Solid’s more exaggerated characteristics.

Based on the footage of the game shown last summer, where a group of soldiers walk through cages housing what look like young boys, it would seem that Kojima may be returning to the subject of child soldiers in his new game. In a time when violent video games are being more closely scrutinized – and publicized – than ever, Kojima may be right that his game can’t release in its current incarnation. 

Editors' Recommendations

Anthony John Agnello
Anthony John Agnello
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Anthony John Agnello is a writer living in New York. He works as the Community Manager of Joystiq.com and his writing has…
How to start the Automatron DLC in Fallout 4
A man and a robot walking in the wastelands in Fallout 4.

Each piece of Fallout 4 DLC adds something substantial to the base experience. In the case of the Automatron expansion, an entire new questline pitting you against a robot army led by a figure known as the Mechanist. Starting it isn't as difficult as starting other DLCs like the Nuka-World expansion, but it-s still a bit cryptic. Buying the DLC doesn't automatically make it apparent how to actually start this new adventure, but we'll give you specific directions to find it in the wasteland.

Read more
One of 2023’s best indie games is getting a movie starring LaKeith Stanfield
James descends on an elevator in El Paso, Elsewhere.

El Paso, Elsewhere, one of Digital Trends' favorite indie games of 2023, now has a film adaptation in the works.

Variety reports that LaKeith Stanfield -- an actor known for his work in films like Judas and the Black Messiah, Knives Out, and Haunted Mansion, as well as TV shows like Atlanta -- is going to star in and produce the film. The adaptation is in the works at Di Bonaventure Pictures, the production company behind the Transformers, G.I. Joe, and The Meg film franchises. Little else is known about the film at this time, although we'd presume it will be a fairly direct adaptation of this intense story-driven game.

Read more
Get in on the action: Helldivers 2 for PC is 15% off for a limited time
A soldier in silhouette in Helldivers 2.

If you are a fan of Starship Troopers the movie, you'll really love Helldivers 2. It takes that hyper-militarized world and the excellent satire and completely immerses you in it, providing for a thrilling and absolutely hilarious experience overall. It's also been a massive hit, and it often has well over 100,000 concurrent players at any given moment, even though it's a couple of months past its launch date. As such, if you want to dive into the fun, then you can grab the game for much for 15% off at CDKeys, which brings it down to $34 from $40.

Why you should buy Helldivers 2
Helldivers 2 is a big upgrade on the previous game, taking you to a fully 3D world to bring Managed Democracy to the rest of space. That primarily means that you get to either fight bots or bugs, with some actually great gameplay differences, and Arrowhead, the studio that made the game, even creates major orders that the whole player base is supposed to work towards. As a player, though, you can group up with three more people and dive into the hell of future space combat against alien species. You get tons of weapons and armor to pick from and even orbital stratagems that you can call down from your destroyer spaceship, which are very cool.

Read more