This ending could only be achieved if the global community on any platform was able to disarm every nuclear weapon that online connected players ever produced. It may have taken five years, but on July 27, 2020, the dream has finally been accomplished. The last nuke has been decommissioned. It’s over, Boss.
For their work, players were greeted with special cutscenes which might never have been uncovered were it not for data-miners or, a few years ago, a glitch that revealed its existence. These short scenes include an impromptu gathering of the Diamond Dogs at Mother Base, some choice political quotes, and some stats on the number of active nuclear weapons throughout history.
There are a couple of components of this development that stand out for us. The first is that, for all Kojima’s lack of brevity, the man has never been devoid of far-sighted comprehension and wit. We saw similar ideas in MGS 2, where Kojima effectively predicted the influence that false information could have on the mass consciousness via the internet.
MGS 5’s new ending reaches further than this, though, as it includes an element of hopefulness. Hopefulness for Kojima, in moving past the series he dedicated his life to. Hopefulness for the global international community, which he saw as slowly moving towards a more peaceful tomorrow. Most relevant for our site, the idea showed hopefulness for gamers, in that a greater sense of community would eventually better connect us.
A Truly Worldwide Community
The idea of a global community for entertainment has been a long time coming, and in many senses was a pure inevitability born from the internet. The PC marketplace of Steam was a great example of this, playing a key part in popularizing the idea of centralized online areas where players could gather. No matter which country you live in, markets like this let you talk and conceivable play with people a world away, growing gaming considerably.
Other advantages have been seen more in the realm of convenience, as illustrated by the online casino corner of the entertainment world. Online gambling in India has expanded into a wide field in the modern age, where collections of information such as website listings and bonuses have made the entire process simple for users looking to get started.
The other side comes directly from improved interaction between disparate and still activity competitive companies. Cross-play gaming is a popular example of this, where Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, PC, and even mobile platforms are increasingly becoming able to play with and against each other. Fantastic for players and the longevity of online viability, cross-play is a literal game-changer. Though somewhat ironically, systems like cross-play would make MGS 5 decommissioning ending much more difficult to achieve.
What Comes Next?
For MGS5, we’d love to see the platforms of PS4, Xbox One, and PC reach the same disarmament goal. Then, given the much larger audience on these systems, these achievements are likely years away yet. In the meantime, we can at least be happy that the greater environment which led to the development of these endings remains at gaming’s forefront. Let’s just hope that the future world is brighter than how Death Stranding made it appear.