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Metal Gear Survive Launches with 92% Less Players than Metal Gear Solid V on Steam

Konami’s Attempt at Continuing the Franchise without Hideo Kojima Already Struggling to Survive

February 28, 2018 by

After two decades of Metal Gear games, Japanese publisher Konami’s first attempt at continuing the franchise without its iconic creator, Hideo Kojima, suffered a disappointing first week on Steam.

Metal Gear Survive debuted with a peak of only 7,713 concurrent players over the weekend. A 92% drop in the franchise’s player base when compared to Metal Gear Solid V’s 90,952 players back in September 2015.

But Konami’s unceremonious parting of ways with Kojima hasn’t been the only factor that has contributed to the new game’s lackluster launch. Even with MGS discounted to $39.99 on Steam, different gameplay mechanics and controversial microtransactions such as $9.99 save slots have also driven players away.

Metal Gear Survive‘s Peak Concurrent Players per Hour on Steam via GitHyp

And the fallout from the bitter breakup doesn’t stop with Metal Gear at Konami. Kojima’s departure also resulted in the cancellation of Silent Hills. The collaboration between Kojima and filmmaker Guillermo del Toro instantly became one of the most anticipated games in years after its haunting P.T. demo, and now Konami has to worry about the backlash of rebooting that series too.

As for Kojima, his new studio is back to working with his old Silent Hills team of Del Toro and Norman Reedus on Death Stranding. An upcoming mysterious action IP that still has no release date and so far has only been confirmed on PlayStation 4.

With the impact of Kojima’s departure now known, it’ll be interesting to see what Konami does next. Considering how low the player base already is for MGS, the latest installment in the franchise doesn’t look like it’s going to survive… and the same might also be true for the entire series with Konami continuing to make poor decisions and the father of the franchise, Kojima, likely taking the majority of the Metal Gear fan base with him to his next game.