Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes Launches Spring 2014 As A Standalone Prologue

The connection between Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain its prologue, Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, has always been slightly confusing at best. While there are still a lot of unanswered questions, Konami has finally shed some light on the two games and announced a release window for Ground Zeroes.

According to a new press release, the publisher will launch Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes as a standalone title this coming spring on the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PS3, and Xbox 360. Interestingly, the game’s price tag will vary depending on your platform and delivery preference. All of the boxed retail versions are priced at $29.99 — which matches the cost of the next-gen (PS4/X1) downloads — or you can save $10 by picking up the current-gen version over PSN/XBLA.

Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima, also talked a bit about the relationship between Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain, saying:

“The advanced capabilities of the FOX Engine have allowed me to tell the new story in a new way. There will be a significant difference in what Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain brings to the series, so we want to ease players into the new open world environment and its potential. As such, Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes has been designed to introduce key elements, allowing them to fully benefit from all that the new game will offer.”

There is certainly nothing orthodox about how Konami is going about Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain and Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, but it would be foolish to expect anything less from Kojima.

Let us know your thoughts on the upcoming two part fifth entry in the MGS franchise in the comments below. Are you excited for the $30 prologue, or would you have rather seen both released as a single game?