Topic: MGS V - The Phantom Pain - BOYCOTT?

Hey mates, I was thinking about something together with my pal last night, he said he'd boycott MGS just because of that Konami Fiasco, I said I'd get it because it's still Kojima who made it. Then he brought something interesting up: payment. How do you think payment worked in a business-relationship with Konami? Was Kojima paid a Wager that was set beforehand and he already got his pay for his work and out from this point all profit made with MGS V is for Konami to take, or does he still get revenue from each and every sale? Thinking that all the branding and his name is gone from all promotional material I'd tend to "All business with Kojima is done, he's been paid and sent away to rot" it would make sense boycotting the game as you'd hurt Konami and not Kojima.

Of course if all you wanna do is play good games, which I think MGS V will be, then just go get it, it's just thoughts we were shuffling around. Anyone else care to join in?

He may still get royalties from MGS V but that's between Kojima and Konami. Most of the times the big companies own the IP even though they didn't create them but they were created for them while that creator was working for them. That's why you get things like Mighty No. 9 and Bloodstained.

Unless it's something really, really stupid and anti-consumer, like the DRM nonsense MS was originally going to pull with Xbox One, I won't boycott a product or a game. I don't like the way this whole situation went down, but I'd feel like I'm missing out if I skip MGS V.

If I started buying based on the moral high ground I would probably only own 2-3 games this gen.

Kojima will work for someone else in the future and make another masterpiece you wait. So yes I will buy the game.

All valid points.
I DO boycott Ubi and EA actually. But the EA thing might change if Battlefront III is any good!
I just generally bring this up because the ONLY power you have in a consumer/capitalist driven world IS voting with your wallet. This and nothing else. So I am curious about any- and everyone's opinion!

I think what you really have to consider is what Kojima would want. Even if he doesn't make a penny from the sales, he has slaved away at this game, which looks to be an absolute masterpiece, for years in what seems like it potentially hasn't been the best of working environments if everything was going sour. After all of the hard work that he has put into making this game, and the fact that he has persevered and stuck with the project to the end even in such difficult times, I'm pretty sure he would want people to play the game that he has gone through so much to complete. Boycotting the game at this stage would simply make it so that all of his work on the game would have been for nothing.

I know where I stand - I'll be right there on day one to bask in the glory of Kojima's Metal Gear swansong, and when all is said and done in that moment I will not be giving Konami a second thought. Allowing all the corporate drama to prevent you from buying the game would, in my eyes, just be doing a disservice to Kojima and the game that he has worked so hard on.

What @SteveButler2210: said, totally agree.

Anything Metal Gear after this though, I will not buy.

Urgh, I love Kojima as much as the next MG nut, but I play games as a hobby and for fun. They are hugely important to me, but there are much more important things happening in the world. I'll keep buying MG until the point I lose interest in it. Same goes for all games. If the day comes when no games are interesting, I'll find another hobby for my spare time. Doubt that day will come, but I'll remain largely uninterested by the political side of it and it'd take something like games cases packaged by children in sweatshops to put me off a purchase. Do I think Kojima will get short changed on MGS5? I doubt it since I'm sure he'd have been vocal about it instead of being completely silent. Do I even care if he is? Not really, he's a big boy and no doubt has plenty in the bank, and if he's positioned himself to be open to such abuse (i.e not getting paid) from Konami he has himself to blame.

Can't wait for MGS5 in a month!!

As I said when talking about Rise of the Tomb Raider, I will not boycott any game based on a 'business' decision I disagree with. As someone else pointed out, If I did this, I would have very few games I would be able to buy. Every publisher, hell every console manufacturer has made decisions that I don't agree with - admittedly not all have necessarily come to fruition but at some point or another, they have all made 'mistakes' and/or decisions that I disagree with. If I then did this with everything else (outside of gaming) too, I may have the moral high ground but I doubt I would be enjoying life, eating the food I like etc etc
As someone else has said Kojima may not own the MGS IP in the same way Bungie didn't own Halo. Future MGS games may not have the same impact in the same way 343's Halo game is not as great but Kojima certainly didn't make MGS on his own and the 'team' (or the majority at least) could well continue to make MGS games that the fans want and enjoy.
I am not going to 'cut off my nose to spite my face' and not buy, play and enjoy games purely based on some business decision but take each game on an individual basis and look at it for what is. I am still disappointed that Dice took the decision to remove aspects that I enjoyed from previous Battlefronts for example, but I have pre-ordered it anyway as it looks and sounds awesome.
Each to their own of course and if people want to boycott games for whatever reason, that is their choice. I know as a consumer and someone on the outside of these business 'decisions', I never get to hear the full story from all concerned either. In the case of MGSv, It could be Konami or Kojima or even a combination of both that has led to them parting.

Good points really.
Then the only question governing about everything else will be: is MGS:V a good game, i.e. like was it a "rocky" development or did everything go smooth and Kojima could make it the game he wanted it to be.

@Scollurio: I'd guess so, he's still plugging it afterall (see his latest poster on main stories) But we wait and see

Yeah, I don't have much to say because what I could say has been said by everyone.

I've never really boycotted games. Chances are, if there's a game I'm interested in, I'm gonna buy it at some point. The only reason I don't get games at launch is because I usually don't have the money to burn. Likewise, gaming politics are something I don't have much interest in. I'll read it, but I won't go "OMG THIS IS DUMB" unless it's something really appalling. Unless these business decisions actually hinder the game itself and my enjoyment of it, I'll probably buy it.

I also know that Kojima put the work in and to me, flipping the bird to Konami isn't worth passing up the latest entry that Kojima busted his rear for. However, I firmly believe this game was meant to bring the series full circle and end the story. Anything after this is probably a cash grab, and I don't think I'll buy the series after this game, as I think Phantom Pain is worthy as the series swan song.

I think the only way you'd see me boycott this would be if Konami announced "MGSV The Phantom Pain - Part 1 on disc. Part 2* to follow over a 6 month period via monthly DLC. Season pass now available - £39.99! (*NB - Part 2 does not include finale. Actual ending is a GAME UK retailer exclusive)"

@SteveButler2210 That is absolutely nightmarish.

@SteveButler2210: And Game would happily do this!
God I really hate that company. Now I will boycott a company like Game as I can get games elsewhere (for a lot cheaper) but I could never not play a game.

@ZeD: You must hate japanese gamers instead of company. It's them who spent money on Dragon Collection instead of MGS =). Konami just can't help it.

I only boycott in the worst of scenarios, and given the nature of Kojima and Konami's relationship, the best FU you can give is buying this and nothing after to show Konami it was their staff that made them great and not the other way around.

The only game company I have boycotted in my life is Gearbox after they defrauded thousands of people and Randy Pitchford lies about it to this day. Such a snake of a man, there is no way I will give them money, just so they can pull the same thing again in the future on other people, just to deny it yet again.

Konami have done some bad things recently and it has put me off but it's not on that same level. I'll wait for reviews and maybe buy it at some point down the line if the micro-transactions don't ruin the experience. But to be honest, Snake's voice change sucked a lot of fun out of Ground Zeroes for me. Just doesn't feel like the real Snake / Big Boss is in the game, and that Hollywood have taken over and done their own version which for me really takes away from it. Giving David Hayter the boot was the worst idea ever.

It's fine though, plenty of other great games on PlayStation at the moment.

Ah, I like the voice change. I'm a big fan of Hayter (who isn't?!) but also love Sutherland. There wasn't really enough voice acting in GZ to get an idea of how good it is. That said I'm sure PP will be plot-lite compared to the previous entries.

I'm not the biggest fan of open world games as the narrative always suffers, but when I first saw MGS3 SE I'd hoped it would be a little more open world than it ended up being. As great as the game was, the jungles were basically long linear hallways with the odd clearing. To that end, PP is the game I'd wanted SE to be in a lot of ways.

@kyleforrester87: I have to agree with @LieutenantFatman that I'm not a fan of Sutherland's voice acting in GZ. It just isn't Snake at all - when you've had one man play a role for 17 years, it doesn't really make any sense to suddenly sub him for someone with a totally different voice. And he does sound veeeeeery generic.

However, benefit of the doubt and all that. Some of what I've heard in the trailers didn't sound quite so bad, so I guess we'll just have to wait and see whether he can pull it out the bag for the final product. Also, I remember when TPP was first shown (trailer with the whole Moby Dick studios stunt), one of the main clues it was Metal Gear was that it sounded like Snake, so he clearly is capable of sounding like Snake should when he tries!