Yesterday was a poster day for Metal Gear Solid V, with reviews universally praising Hideo Kojima’s final game in the franchise. What most reviews didn’t get to touch, however, was the player-invading Forward Operating Base multiplayer mode – which was then suspected to be locked behind a hideous paywall. Konami isn’t happy about it either.
Basing their news off a first-hand experience with the game, Gamespot claimed that the smaller of the two multiplayer modes shipping with the game (F.O.B is ready on launch day, Metal Gear Online is only out in October) is locked behind a paywall designed to force players to fork out more to play. Konami, in response, slammed the report, claiming that the currency needed to start the mode was earnable in-game.
Gamespot posted an article following the review that 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.
GameSpot’s Peter Brown didn’t back down though. Shortly afterwards he tweeted the exact screen that reviewers were met with when trying to access the content (which was then offline). It doesn’t exactly suggest anything else other than having to shell out more for F.O.B, so the concern is justified.
Konami says that MGS V PVP isn’t a paid service, but this screenshot says otherwise. http://t.co/67eioTBYRg pic.twitter.com/NqjK1ACRPU
— Peter Brown (@PCBrown) August 24, 2015
Thing is, we’ve heard already from Konami that all currencies could be earned in-game, but we’ve also come to be a little distrustful of these systems. There are countless games which employ in-game currency systems that are so damned slow that they’re often not even viable. I’m not saying that’s the case here – we honestly have no first-hand idea on how it works since it was omitted from our review content – but there’s cause of concern when it comes to certain publishers.
I guess we’ll all just have to wait until The Phantom Pain finally launches this time next week.
Last Updated: August 25, 2015
Dutch Matrix
August 25, 2015 at 11:17
The minute you omit something I turn on full scepticism mode.
Greylingad[CNFRMD]
August 25, 2015 at 11:25
I’ve been grinding my teeth in my sleep waiting for this game…I really hope it’s as good as the reviews say it is….
Alien Emperor Trevor
August 25, 2015 at 11:26
Based on gaming industry trends “it’s not true, we’ll share more details later.” = “Oh shit, they found out – how do we spin this?!”
Not knocking the game, because SP looks awesome & that’s what I’ll get it for, but when I heard MP was left out of reviews completely because it’s only available later & and that MT’s were involved… I wasn’t particularly impressed & that little voice of doubt started whispering. Hope people looking forward to MP aren’t going to be shafted.
Greylingad[CNFRMD]
August 25, 2015 at 11:30
Luckily, I have exactly the same purpose in mind for this game, I will be avoiding the MP side of things like the black plague or a PC port for The Last of Us….
Alien Emperor Trevor
August 25, 2015 at 11:35
That reminds me, I never bothered checking to see how many of those reviews were on the PC version. Oh, hi there Batman!
Greylingad[CNFRMD]
August 25, 2015 at 11:37
HAHAHA!!! Warn her brothers didn’t heed the warning?
RinceThis
August 25, 2015 at 11:34
180!
RinceThis
August 25, 2015 at 11:35
That voice is back again? Moar pills, stat!
Alien Emperor Trevor
August 25, 2015 at 11:39
More pills, which could kill me OR hearing your voice. Decisions, decisions. 😛
RinceThis
August 25, 2015 at 11:40
I can help you choose! http://media0.giphy.com/media/D2PVFzyyDFn32/giphy.gif
Alien Emperor Trevor
August 25, 2015 at 11:42
…
RinceThis
August 25, 2015 at 14:33
BWAHAHAHAH!
Hammersteyn
August 25, 2015 at 11:28
People who defend in game purchases but sight that you can grind the currency (I actually like the idea if it’s not to much of a grind) is defending Konami and all other publishers like it. We are paying a AAA price for the game we should be getting a AAA experience.
Even MKX pull this shit by making the crypt that much harder. They dangled the “unlock everything” carrot in front of our noses and most people proved themselves to be the asses Warner Brothers were looking for.
Greylingad[CNFRMD]
August 25, 2015 at 11:34
That is exactly what I hate about the AAA industry at this stage… If you compare products, you look at their worth, so if you take TW3 vs DA:I you see lots of content for the same price, if someone tells me to pay more than the already allocated R800-900 for a game, that product will stay on the shelf…
Alien Emperor Trevor
August 25, 2015 at 11:40
They don’t put them in the game if they don’t want you to buy them.
Hammersteyn
August 25, 2015 at 11:33
Dead Space 3 is still a prime example. EA also used the “you can grind” argument and yet every time you went to a crafting table the Downloadable content button reminded you that you paid $60 for a game that embraces MT like the mobile whore Dungeon Keeper was turned into
Kromas,powered by windows 10.
August 25, 2015 at 11:49
Also immediately thought of Deadspace 3.
Despite that though I must admit I enjoyed the game co-op with a friend.
RinceThis
August 25, 2015 at 11:35
Here reviewers, come play half a product, and LOVE it! Then we’ll whack you all with microtransactions later!
Kromas,powered by windows 10.
August 25, 2015 at 11:48
Soooo … Deadspace 3. 🙂
Greylingad[CNFRMD]
August 25, 2015 at 11:49
That’s exactly it, isn’t it? And then they proceed to give it a full score, even though there were bugs? I love that logic…
Kromas,powered by windows 10.
August 25, 2015 at 11:51
Early Access mindset is affecting a lot of people.
BTW: Ark is super amazing but you may experience sub 60FPS every now and then.Also you may die for no apparent reason every now and then. Also random stupid physics bugs.
Still … 10/10 would tame again.
Greylingad[CNFRMD]
August 25, 2015 at 11:57
But that’s the thing, there is no such thing as a perfect game, no matter how one looks at it, a score of 10/10 means that the story is beyond what was expected, so is the graphics, so is the gameplay, the controls and lastly, there was not a single incident where something went wrong… So how does The Witcher 3, by far one of the best games I’ve ever played, get a 10/10, when the horse is as annoying as trying to put a crying baby to sleep with a jackhammer going at the wall next to you?
Alien Emperor Trevor
August 25, 2015 at 12:09
I see the rating as a representation of the overall experience, a few bugs that don’t change the overall experience don’t really matter to the score, if the bugs do then that’s a different story. Reviews scores are subjective after all, not objective, and only really refer to the experience the reviewer had playing that game.
Greylingad[CNFRMD]
August 25, 2015 at 12:16
I would agree with this, but then scoring doesn’t play a role, the explanation of why the reviewer finds the product within a certain range of recommendation would address that need, where attaching a number to it involves rating it to a perfect and standardised method of testing. Breaking a score down, for instance, graphics, storytelling, gameplay, gameplay facets, skill tree etc. was always a good way of doing it, then giving it an average. Yes, that is still based on an opinion, but it’s elaborated in a much more conditional way… Sorry for ranting, but it makes sense…strangely…
Alien Emperor Trevor
August 25, 2015 at 12:44
I like seeing the score, then seeing the review explain why – it irritates the living shit out of me when I see a ton of negative stuff in the review but the game still gets a high score because they don’t gel with each other.
Greylingad[CNFRMD]
August 25, 2015 at 13:09
Exactly! I quite literally just read the review for MGSV on OI gee en… A perfect score, with a listed con… How, in anyones’ right mind can that be an accurate depiction? He also explains that Keifer Sutherland is more of a silent type character during the story and still full marks…anyway… I am of opinion that the scoring system gives a good summarised quick reference as to whether a game is recommended, if you then need more detail as to why the scoring is as high as it is, you simply scroll up and look at the breakdown of values as they are displayed, that has always been the best way of doing it, chunk by chunk….
Kromas,powered by windows 10.
August 25, 2015 at 13:29
Can’t really say. I found the Witcher 3 to be very boring. 🙂
That being said I do agree that no game can be perfect as perfection is a matter of personal preference.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that.
Still ARK 10/10
Mass Effect 1000000000000000000.E/10
Greylingad[CNFRMD]
August 25, 2015 at 13:38
Hehe, true, I enjoyed Witcher, it was good, not a 10/10, that g*ddamned horse, but otherwise good, could have done with some more Ciri though…
Kromas,powered by windows 10.
August 25, 2015 at 13:41
More Ciri would have “enhanced” the story. 😛
Greylingad[CNFRMD]
August 25, 2015 at 13:43
Oooh yeah… It would have…
Ranting Raptor
August 25, 2015 at 12:18
#PayWallGate
Kromas,powered by windows 10.
August 25, 2015 at 13:42
#PAYBACKTHEFAKEMONEY!