Metal Gear Solid: The Board Game Release Plans Now Solid Once Again

by W. Eric Martin

Old lookAt PAX Unplugged 2018, IDW Games announced Metal Gear Solid: The Board Game from Emerson Matsuuchi, stating that the game was “Coming 2019”. Here’s an overview of this 1-4 player game:

Metal Gear Solid: The Board Game is a fully co-operative, miniatures board game. Following the story of the first Metal Gear Solid video game, players take on the roles of Solid Snake, Meryl Silverburgh, Dr. Hal “Otacon” Emmerich, and Gray Fox the Cyborg Ninja and need to use their unique skill sets to avoid detection as they complete objectives across multiple campaign scenarios. Featuring a highly dynamic A.I. system and sandbox gameplay, missions can be completed in multiple ways and always play out differently.

Then more than two years passed.

In February 2021 Matsuuchi announced that IDW Games would not be releasing the design:

The rights to the design were finally given back to me a few weeks ago. So I have reached out and enlisted the help of a friend that is a bonafide expert in licensing and has connections with Konami. We’re working to keep this project alive and exploring possible options. While there are no guarantees that our efforts will bear fruit, I’m still optimistic that we will be able to get the MGS game to market, to the patient fans that have been kept waiting.

If you are one of those patient fans, your patience is now being rewarded …sort of, as you still have to wait at least one more year.

CMON has announced that it plans to release Metal Gear Solid: The Board Game in May 2024, with a pre-order open now for the “Integral Edition” of the game that includes a graphic novel that illustrates each mission, as well as a 13 cm tall “Metal Gear REX” miniature.

CMON notes that the game’s 14-mission campaign will be the same in both the retail edition of the game and the “Integral Edition”. Additionally, it clarifies that “all exclusive promos are exclusive to this Pre-Order (or crowdfunding platforms), with remaining stock available through conventions and special promotions only”, so maybe “exclusive” isn’t quite the right word.

For more on the game, you can check out this interview with Matsuuchi (and IDW’s Spencer Reeve) at Gen Con 2019:

Youtube Video