Payton: Metal Gear Solid 5 could be a prequel

According to a preview of an interview with 1UP, assistant producer Ryan Payton said in regards to the possibility of Metal Gear Solid 5: "there are some misunderstandings that this is the final Metal Gear game. But it's really the final chapter of the Solid Snake story." He further states that if Snake's story continues past MGS4, "we'll get to the point where the game has absolutely no basis in reality." Payton also hinted at who might be the future star of the next MGS game: there is "still a lot of room for filling in the gaps as far as Big Boss is concerned." 1UP's Philip Kollar interprets all of this as Konami having nowhere to go with the series except for prequels to "continue fleshing out that same epic narrative."

Payton also talks about Metal Gear Online; they are "working on a handful of new maps, skills, and rules that we're bug checking at the moment ... It's not going to be too long before people are going to start seeing screenshots of the new stages ... By the time you're tired of the maps that come in the game, it'll probably be around the time we'll be bringing out the new ones."

More details will be revealed as the full interview is published on 1UP later today.

Update: The full interview has been posted here. In response to rumors in Famitsu about Kojima already thinking about MGS5, Payton confirms that it is true. This also confirms Kojima's involvement, at least to some degree, in the next installment.