David Hayter, the iconic voice of Solid Snake in the Metal Gear Solid franchise, told his Twitter followers Thursday that he had just finished a recording session reprising his role as the espionage master.
Konami has made zero indication of any upcoming Metal Gear Solid projects, leaving us to wildly speculate what Hayter might be working on.
Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 2
This is probably what it is.
Hayter is likely re-doing voice work for remasters of games for Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1‘s follow-up compilation. It is the only project related to Metal Gear Solid that is confirmed to be in the works, if only confirmed by the title of the first collection.
There are two issues with this theory: first, given the fact that Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 released in Oct 2023, one would think that Hayter would have finished his voice work for the game much earlier. Second, many of the games left for Master Collection Vol. 2 released on HD consoles and have usable voice lines.
Neither of these facts make it impossible for the project to be Master Collection Vol. 2, as Konami could just be trying to stagger their releases, and handheld games such as Metal Gear Solid: Peacewalker are still in need of new voice lines. It is far from a sure thing, but the caveats to this theory are minimal.
Standalone Remaster
In some ways, this is a greater possibility than the first. Metal Gear Solid 3∆: Snake Eater was a ground up remake of the original game, and would require more work than just re-voicing lines. That game did well commercially, and it is plausible that Konami has given another installment in the series the Delta treatment.
As we saw in 2023, Konami is willing to make a standalone Delta game of a title that is in the Master Collection release, meaning the next Master Collection‘s apparent development does not negate this theory. Frankly, both the Delta theory and the Master Collection theory could be true at once.
That said, similar to the Master Collection theory, one would think Konami would have already begun marketing the new Delta game if they were actively working on it, even if it were just a mention in an interview or a teaser trailer. Again, this does not negate the Delta theory, since voice work almost always comes before animation, but still it is odd that Konami has not made a statement on the new game if it really is a Delta remake.
Metal Gear Solid VI
Yeah, no.
It is not impossible that Konami is attempting to create the next installment of the Metal Gear Solid franchise without the involvement of Hideo Kojima, knowing what the optics of that might be and working against the existing Metal Gear Solid storyline. It is also possible that Sega will announce their next console, the $1,200 Sega Pluto, this afternoon.
But still, it is fun to fantasize about. It certainly would be the only theory that would absolutely beyond a shadow of a doubt require Hayter to voice new lines, but there would need to be a bevy of other pieces of evidence before anybody familiar with Konami’s history would realistically expect an announcement of the next mainline game in the franchise.
Kojima has been doing his own thing with Death Stranding and their upcoming release Death Stranding 2: On the Beach. It is entirely unlikely that he will dissolve his thus far successful studio to continue the Metal Gear Solid series, which is what would effectively need to happen in order for a sixth game to be successful. Again, both legally and physically, it is not strictly impossible, but do not hold your breath.
GAME WRECKS 
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