‘Metal Gear Solid V’ Release Date Leaks, Kojima ‘Closing The Loop’ On Saga

The release date for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain leaked out Tuesday. Denizens of the NeoGAF forum managed to dig out a link to an unreleased video announcing the release date of the upcoming PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC open-world action-adventure game.

The final frame of the Metal Gear Solid V announcement video reveals a worldwide launch date of September 1, 2015. The unreleased was hosted by IGN (mirror) before being pulled in the course of this article being written.

The release date for the game was expected to be announced this week at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. We’ll have to see how Konami and series creator Hideo Kojima react to this leak.

In the pulled video, Kojima can be seen talking up Metal Gear Solid V and where it fits in the series. He insinuates that this will be final title in the franchise, but this is not the first time he’s done that.

“I always say this will be my last Metal Gear, but the games in the series that I’ve personally produced – Metal on MSX, Metal Gear 2, Metal Gear Solid 1, 2, 3, 4 and Peace Walker – and now Metal Gear Solid 5 constitute a single Metal Gear saga,” Kojima said.

“With Metal Gear Solid 5 I’m finally closing the loop on that saga. In that sense, this will be the final Metal Gear Solid. To me, this is the last Metal Gear.”

While there was hope that the game would release earlier this year, Kojima explained that the development team is using the time to focus on balancing the game. “It’s the most difficult phase of development, but also the most rewarding,” he explained.

This sets up a potentially blockbuster final four months of the year, which is traditionally the most active time for games. The fact that Metal Gear Solid V will be coming out of the gates first is significant. The highly anticipated title won’t have to compete with attention with the likes of Halo 5, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, Assassin’s Creed Unity, Star Wars: Battlefront, The Division and more.

Metal Gear Solid V is set in 1984 and picks up after the events of the prologue title released last year, Ground Zeroes. Players guide Venom Snake (aka Big Boss) through a series of open-world missions located in Africa and Afghanistan with the Diamond Dogs mercenary. Snake is out to get revenge on those responsible for destroying Militaires Sans Frontières, his previous mercenary squad.

[Images via Metal Gear Solid V]