Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes was the First in an Episodic Series as Revealed by Hideo Kojima

wccftech.com:

A new revelation has been made about Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes by the series creator Hideo Kojima. This revelation was made on the game's 9th anniversary and unveils one of the intentions of this particular project as it was meant to be an experiment that could have potentially led to an episodic series. Of course, these plans fell through for a variety of reasons which are also explained by its creator.

The revelation came around earlier today  as Hideo Kojima tweeted the following regarding Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (referred to as GZ).

2/2Since PS4 was launched at the end of 2013, the game was pre-released with the PS4 x FOX Engine x Open World to introduce the new MGS and also to provide feedback to the main game in mind.

— HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) March 20, 2023

In a later tweet, Kojima states that his original intention was to launch Ground Zeroes as a first part of an episodic format that would be akin of a streamed drama where one episode is produced and distributed. In a sense, this game was meant to be more so of an experiment rather than what the game ended up becoming which is a prologue to the larger story found in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.

Of course, Kojima also mentioned that the reception that Ground Zeroes received also played a role in this development as well. While this was supposed to be an experimental ground for an episodic format, it was also poorly received after launch since many people expected the game to be a "Full game" and missed the intention originally established by Kojima. The rest is, as they say, history as Metal Gear Solid V faced several development woes, ultimately ending with Kojima's firing from the gaming giant and his establishment of a new