Who created the Metal Gear franchise?
Hideo Kojima created Metal Gear. He designed the first game for the MSX2 computer platform, which debuted in Japan and Europe in 1987. Kojima directed the main numbered installments and left Konami in 2015.
Questions about Metal Gear
Short answers, pulled from the story.
How many copies has the Metal Gear series sold?
The Metal Gear franchise had sold 65.5 million units worldwide as of the end of December 2025. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty is the highest-selling single installment, with 7.03 million copies sold worldwide.
What is the Metal Gear weapon in the games?
Metal Gear is a bipedal walking tank, or mecha, with the ability to launch nuclear weapons. Acquiring or destroying this superweapon is the central objective in most installments of the franchise.
Why did the first Metal Gear become a stealth game?
The MSX2 computer hardware could only display a limited number of bullets and enemies on screen at once, making the action-game Kojima originally planned feel broken. Inspired by the film The Great Escape, Kojima redesigned the gameplay around avoiding enemies rather than fighting them.
What happened to the Metal Gear Solid movie?
A Metal Gear Solid film was announced in May 2006 and later set up at Sony Pictures Entertainment with producer Michael De Luca. Work halted in January 2010 over concerns the film could damage the franchise if it underperformed. The project was revived in 2012, and Oscar Isaac was cast as Snake in December 2020, but in April 2026 the directors and Isaac were both replaced or departed from the production.
What is the philosophical theme of each Metal Gear Solid game?
Kojima organized each numbered installment around a theme: Metal Gear Solid addresses genetics, Metal Gear Solid 2 addresses how societal philosophies shape identity, Metal Gear Solid 3 explores how time and place determine a person's self, Metal Gear Solid 4 examines a person's understanding of the world lost at death, and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain deals with how revenge strips away humanity.