Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain boasts 'enormous volume,' won't release any time soon

Metal Gear mastermind Hideo Kojima has revealed that his upcoming open-world stealth title Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is still some way off due to its ‘enormous volume.’

Kojima-san made the comments during a chinwag with Japan’s Famitsu magazine (via VG247), where he also explained his decision to split the title into two parts: the prologue, Ground Zeroes, and the main experience, The Phantom Pain.

“If I were to put it in Hollywood movie terms, the prologue, that is Ground Zeroes, would be similar to the first 10-15 minutes that are meant to ‘captivate’ [the audience]," he said.

“At first, something will happen, then the title will appear like ‘bam!’ and then nine years later, a big event will be the start [of Metal Gear Solid V]. That’s how the story will be connected. As far as the game itself goes, The Phantom Pain will take place in an immense open world map, while Ground Zeroes takes place in a smaller open world.

“It would’ve actually been better to release it all at once, but by the way things are going, it appears likely that Phantom Pain will be coming out around the time the PlayStation 4 becomes more spread out. That means we would’ve had to make people wait a while longer.”

Kojima-san made it clear that The Phantom Pain is still some way off, hence the reason his company decided to release a prologue chapter to keep gamers satisfied until the main attraction shows up.

“Prior to the announcement of Metal Gear Solid V, last year, we showed a Fox Engine implementation video. Then, we also showed the Fox Engine in a presentation video at GDC 2013. Since we revealed information on a regular basis, there were many who believed that Metal Gear Solid V was already complete, and there were many voices from fans saying ‘we want to play it soon’.

“However, The Phantom Pain has enormous volume, so it will require much more time. So, together with the marketing staff, we consulted ‘what ifs’ and such, and came to the decision of allowing fans to at least play the prologue, ahead of time. We want to offer it for as cheap as possible, so at first we thought about making it as a download only; however, after thinking about people around the world, and how some places don’t have the best connectivity, we’re preparing a physical version.”

Ground Zeroes is due out on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One next spring. The game takes place shortly after the events of MGS: Peace Walker, while The Phantom Pain is set nine years after the events of Ground Zeroes.

The Phantom Pain has yet to attract a release date.

Stay tuned to PSU.com for more info.