The case of Moby Dick Studios and The Phantom Pain was an odd one. The trailer for what most of us thought was a fresh IP had the world abuzz during last year’s Video Game Awards, but not exactly for the right reasons. We knew employees close to the Metal Gear Solid franchise were sporting Moby Dick shirts at the show, and really, there were just elements of the video that oozed the classic Kojima flair. However, no one but the development team knew quite yet that the game was directly tied to the fan-favorite franchise. At least, that’s what we thought.
Speaking with Gamereactor, Hideo Kojima discussed the initial process of getting both the Fox Engine and The Phantom Pain out to the public without leaning on the actual Metal Gear name.
“At that time, there was not too much movement in technology in gaming. So we thought we'd try to in a very guerrilla way, push out our Fox Engine. And that's why we thought of Moby Dick Studios,” he said. “Of course, it was kind of more of a childlike humour to me, to create this mysterious studio and say ‘The Phantom Pain.’ But of course it was Metal Gear Solid V at the time; it was just released as The Phantom Pain.”
But it wasn’t exactly easy to get that much-coveted VGA spot. In order to convince the producer into playing the clip, Kojima had to spill the beans on the game’s ties to Metal Gear.
“Of course, the VGAs, where The Phantom Pain was first shown, in order to get that into the program there we had to tell the producer there that is MGS,” Kojima explained. “But he was the only person who knew about it.”
Since then, we’ve seen a chunk of gameplay footage that shows an open world. That’s a first for a Metal Gear game, and honestly, an appealing element that the franchise needs to continue to excite.
