Metal Gear Solid voice actor denies claims that a new game is in the works

Written by. Nick Mosier based on the original Japanese article (original article’s publication date: 2022-07-13 21:36 JST)

Voice actor Kikuko Inoue released a statement on July 13 (JST) regarding a response she gave to a question at the Anime Village (Jeddah Season 2022) event in Saudi Arabia. Her answer had been reported as suggesting a new title in the Metal Gear Solid series which she says is not the case.

Inoue is a veteran voice actor who has worked on a number of different anime and game series. She has performed on multiple Metal Gear Solid titles, including her role as The Boss, and is known by fans as a member of the main cast.

While at the Anime Village event, Inoue took to the stage to answer questions from fans. As we can see in the above tweet, this fan asked if the Metal Gear Solid series would continue or if there were any remasters or remakes in the works. They probably thought that if there was a new project in development, Inoue would know about it and was hoping to get some information.

In response, Inoue said, “I can’t give you any information about my work, but please look forward to it.” The interpreter relayed Inoue’s response pretty much as is and the moderator of the session seemed to think it was a clear-cut response. While she avoided making any declarations, it may have left some wiggle room to interpret it as saying a new game is in development. In the end, this was reported by some media outlets as the voice actor suggesting the existence of a new Metal Gear Solid game. However, there was apparently a misunderstanding during the exchange at the event.

On July 13 (JST), Inoue released a statement adding more context saying she was referring to upcoming projects overall (her entire performance) and explains that she didn’t hear the “Metal Gear” part when the interpreter relayed the question to her. In other words, Inoue wasn’t talking about Metal Gear and was instead saying that she can’t comment on what new projects she is currently working on in general and to please wait patiently for any upcoming announcements.

When Japanese creators deal with media outside of Japan, they often must rely on the interpretation process. Besides the experience or skill of the interpreter, just the nature of languages being different can cause different nuances to appear and create misunderstandings. While in this case it sounds like Inoue simply didn’t hear the words “Metal Gear,” it does somewhat illuminate the difficulties of interpreting and dealing with foreign media. It was also a good call to release a clarification before the rumors spread further.

Regarding the Metal Gear Solid series, series director Hideo Kojima left Konami and went independent after 2015’s Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. While a spinoff title called Metal Gear Survive was released in 2018, nothing new has come out since. On the other hand, Konami did state that they are preparing to bring back temporarily delisted games in the series (related article). For more information about the future of the series, we’ll likely just have to wait for an announcement from Konami.