Forward Operative Base, not Fall Out Boy
[Update: In a statement made to GamesRadar, Konami have clarified that reports of the entire FOB mode needing to be unlocked were incorrect. However, there will be microtransactions to “accelerate” certain parts of it:
“[A website] posted an article following the review that the PVP (FOB) mode in MGSV TPP will be restricted behind a micro-transaction paywall and that is simply not true. The FOB mode will be fully accessible at launch and the micro-transaction layer to that specific feature in the game primarily acts as an accelerator. We’ll have more details at launch, but we did try and clear these rumours up when they started circulating during E3. We even addressed this in our official E3 2015 demo when it went live during that show.”
So FOB will be available from the start, but if you want it to run a bit faster you’ll have to spend MB coins.]
It’s the final days before Metal Gear fans the world over take to the newest instalment, never to be seen again in a flood of cutscenes, gun-spinning, naked cartwheels, and bee-shooting enemies.
Unfortunately, there’s been some concern about the previously announced microtransactions the game would have. Loads of people assumed it’d just be little tiny things, but it’s now emerging that maybe entire game modes will be up for sale.
The Forward Operative Base mode, a kind of Dark Souls-like invasion system, will at first be unplayable until you buy it with MB coins (the currency the game’s microtransactions runs on).
Some have taken this to mean the mode is hidden behind some sort of paywall, but it isn’t quite like that. Kin-ichiro Imaizumi, a senior producer at Konami, has said you can also unlock “money” (whether that’s MB Coins or something else we don’t know yet) through playing the single-player modes.
You can make money by completing missions on single campaign mode. There are other ways to make money as well. https://t.co/PAUP9mzOu4
— Ken-ichiro Imaizumi (@Ken1555) August 10, 2015
The problem here is that plenty of free-to-play games give you the credits for their transactions by playing. It’s often a slow and soul-rending process, so waiting to see how Konami handles it doesn’t fill me with optimism.
Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain FOB mode behind paywall – report [VG247]
