Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes Dev Dismisses Concerns over Game Length

Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes is the appetizer for the upcoming The Phantom Pain, but recent reports indicate that it’s more bite sized than we first thought. It might take two hours to complete the tactical experience, but Kojima Productions designer Jordan Amaro argues that length has nothing to do with quality.

"Are Journey and Dear Esther long? [Voltaire's 18th-century writing Candide] is like a hundred pages at most," Amaro said (via GameSpot). "Yet they are masterpieces of video game and literature. This smearing will not stain and affect what we're aiming to achieve with MGS, the game industry in Japan, or video games as a whole."

The major element we seem to be leaving out here is price, as Ground Zeroes ranges from $20-$40 depending on platform and delivery choice. Something like Journey is only $15, but Amaro still thinks fans are blowing this whole issue out of proportion.

"I want people to celebrate the new MGS like we used to. I'm not dismissing their concerns. But this [issue surrounding the game's length] has been trumped-up," he said.

After all this drama, Kojima will likely speed up his search to find a new director for the Metal Gear series.