The Rumor Mill IS the Phantom Pain (MGS5 vs Rumors)
Rumors are being bandied about regarding Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain having a paywall blocking access to a seemingly major multiplayer component. The assumption being that the only way to even access the competitive multiplayer mode, Forward Operating Base (Completely separate from the Metal Gear Online mode which is NOT shipping with the game but will arrive on October 6th for consoles & January 2016 for PC), was to pay microtransaction money for it.
Now, we here at #0HP are not ones to let a good rumor just sit by the wayside, oh no. We explicitly comment on rumors as often as is humanly possible.
Initially reported by Gamespot, Konami quickly fired back saying the PvP paywall wasn't exactly a true barrier to entry but with the game launching in 1 week MAYBE staying away from ambiguity and just outright providing factual details would be in their (and our) best interest.
Ultimately, the following statement was released which provides some clarification:
Ken-ichiro Imaizumi is one of the developers on Metal Gear V and here, where he mentions money, he's actually referring to the in-game currency, MB Coins. But again, sticking with the amibiguity. "Other ways"? If you're allowed to be a gentleman of the night then why not just say that? Psh.
Gamesradar posted a fuller response from Konami (which we're posting here just to provide a more complete understanding) but we can infer from the previously linked Gamespot post that they also received a similar - if not the exact same - communication from Konami stating:
“...the PVP (FOB) mode in MGSV TPP will be restricted behind a micro-transaction paywall and that is simply not true. The FOB mode will be fully accessible at launch and the micro-transaction layer to that specific feature in the game primarily acts as an accelerator. We’ll have more details at launch, but we did try and clear these rumours up when they started circulating during E3. We even addressed this in our official E3 2015 demo when it went live during that show.”
The game itself appears to be scoring quite high with the regular reviewers; It appears one of the main complaints has to do with the story, which I personally find hilarious. If you're new to Metal Gear, be prepared to have your brain melted when you attempt to piece together how each game/plot fits into the overall narrative. It's a doozy.
But hey, pooping horses and throat-slicing knife-wielding dogs should help you to forget alllllll about the story, the microtransactions and any other Metal Gear related shenanigans.
