About

Metal Gear Survive is a co-op survival video game spin-off of the Metal Gear_ series developed by Konami for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC platforms. Taking place after the events of Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, players take on the role of the MSF soldiers who were sucked into a mysterious wormhole that sent them into an alternate dimension, where they must work together in order to survive and fight against hordes of zombies. The game gained notoriety online for being the first in the series since Hideo Kojima's departure from Konami.

History

On August 17th, 2016, Metal Gear Survive was announced during Gamescom 2016.^[1] According to the President of Konami Europe Tomotada Tashiro, Metal Gear Survive "will offer a fresh take on the series’ famed stealth elements but within a unique co-op setting that is designed for a truly engrossing multiplayer experience.” On the same day, the game's reveal trailer was uploaded to the IGN YouTube channel, where it gathered over 2.7 million views and 85,900 dislikes within 72 hours (shown below). The game was originally scheduled for release in 2017 for the Playstation 4, Xbox One and PC but was delayed to February 20th, 2018.

On September 17th, 2016, Konami released demo footage for Metal Gear Survive during TGS 2016 and later to Youtube. Within 5 days, the video gathered over 608,000 views and 18,000 dislikes (shown below).

Reception

Pre-Release

Upon its reveal, Metal Gear Survive was met with backlash from users online. Several YouTube personalities expressed their distaste for the upcoming game, including YongYea, Jim Sterling, ReviewTechUSA and AlphaOmegaSin (shown below).

Meanwhile, Redditor laoxtreme submitted a comic titled "My thinking of Metal Gear Survive trailer," in which Kojima abandons Konami and the Metal Gear Survive team (shown below). Within five days, the post gathered upwards of 3,000 votes (89% upvoted) and 340 comments on /r/gaming.^[3]

Also on August 17th, a Hideo Kojima parody account tweeted a Brent Rambo-style GIF in which Big Boss shoots himself at his computer with the caption "Watching the Metal Gear Survive trailer" (shown below). In the next five days, the tweet received more than 19.000 likes and 17.900 retweets.

Kojima's Response

On September 18th, 2016, during Hideo Kojima's Q&A panel at TGS 2016, when asked about his involvement in Metal Gear Survive, Kojima responded by denying any involvement he had on the title, stating "Metal Gear is about political fiction and espionage. Where do zombies fit in that?".

Release

Upon release, Metal Gear Survive received mixed reviews from critics. On Metacritic, the game holds a score of 65^[5] for the Playstation 4 version and a score of 60^[6] for the Xbox One version. Writing for PC Gamer, Andy Kelly writes that the game, "has flickers of brilliance, but the painfully slow and gruelling survival simulation routinely snuffs them out."^[7] Gamespot^[9] wrote the game "stacks stiff, repetitive gameplay atop survival systems that are unforgiving and unrelenting, making the overall experience feel like trying to break out of a chokehold with one arm tied behind your back." On February 24th, 2018, videogamedunkey reviewed the game very unfavorably, particularly the combat, gaining over 2.6 million views (shown below).

On February 26th, 2018, a question about the negative backlash was posted to /r/OutOfTheLoop.^[8] User More_bort explained that the game's $30 price-tag for what many said seemed more like a Metal Gear Solid V DLC than a standalone game. On Steam, the game retails for $40.^[10] Additionally, a feature of the game which forces players to pay for extra save slots angered players.

Search Interest

External Reference