Last month we spotted the 'in game purchases optional' line on the Metal Gear Solid 5 preorder page. Konami has since confirmed that microtransactions will be present in the game and the focus is very much on the word optional.
“There are some microtransactions involved in the game," MGS 5 community manager Robert Peeler tells TheAngryJoeShow. "What it does is allow players to finish the efforts they make in the game a little bit quicker, a little bit differently. Different from unlocking it which you can also do. It’s completely optional. It’s something that players can use to help them throughout the game if they’re having trouble but in general you can unlock everything. There’s no difficulty with just ignoring that aspect of the game and unlocking it naturally."
We don't know what these 'efforts' are yet but Peeler says that players can avoid the microtransactions altogether but it might make things easier for those new to the franchise. "In general Metal Gear Solid 5 has been designed for a wide variety of players," he says. "We want to open it up to people who maybe haven’t tried the Metal Gear series before and they might have a little trouble getting past some of these hurdles. We want to make it easier for them by using this method. In general for the hardcore player and really everyone who wants to play this way you can unlock everything naturally in the game and that’s perfectly viable.”
When asked about the future of the series Peeler didn't give much away about releases after MGS V but was adamant that there will be more games. “Metal Gear is a very important franchise for Konami. We’re not going to just abandon it," he explains. "We already have spoken about hiring for new material, hiring for things down the road. I can’t really give any details about any future releases at this time but I can say that this is not a franchise that we’re abandoning at the end of Metal Gear Solid 5. Metal Gear as a franchise is something that we want to continue.” The fact that this will be without Kojima is still mostly heart breaking.
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