Konami announces Metal Gear Delta will include a new multiplayer mode, but don't expect Metal Gear Online 4 because 'the landscape of multiplayer games has changed a lot'

Konami has shown off a new take on Metal Gear multiplayer, with Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater boasting an online mode, Fox Hunt. This follows a recent tease that many, myself included, thought indicated a return of the beloved Metal Gear Online.

Well, no dice, but Fox Hunt actually looks pretty cool and, more than anything else, reminds me of rival stealther Splinter Cell's similarly cherished Spies vs Mercs multiplayer. The new video features Yu Sahara, the director of Fox Hunt, talking over some footage of the new mode, which features a pared-back version of MGS4's octocamo stealth system: When a player briefly pauses while touching a surface, they'll automatically blend into various environmental textures rather than having to select the right one from a menu like in MGS3's singleplayer.

Sahara's guiding principles are pretty well aligned with MGS's core systems: "hide-and-go-seek" is a recurring phrase, as well as the "back-and-forth tension of staying hidden or searching out the enemy."

It is hard to tell from the gameplay clips exactly how this is working, but as well as Spies Versus Mercs it has some similarity to the Metal Gear Online mode Team Sneaking. In that, one side has the stealth camo and non-lethal loadouts, while the other side has no camo but lethal weapons. The sneaking side won by either KO-ing the lethal side one-by-one, though every time a player takes a shot the entire team briefly loses their camo, or by capturing two objectives and getting them back to base.

I'm not saying that is how Fox Hunt's going to work, and Konami will no doubt dripfeed more info as we get closer to Delta's release, but it's one of MGO's most memorable modes and seems a sensible place for the new Metal Gear multiplayer attempt to find some inspiration.

"Fox Hunt is a completely original online multiplayer mode," said Sahara. "Although it shares the same world with Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, the gameplay is completely different.

"When we say Metal Gear multiplayer, many fans will probably think of Metal Gear Online, but Fox Hunt will be its own new type of mode. We very much appreciate all the long-time fans of MGO who have always wanted to see it make a comeback, but the landscape of multiplayer games has changed a lot since MGO. It took a lot of careful consideration to think about what a new online mode should look like."

Sahara says the challenge was "to make something unique that is more than just a shootout" and, y'know, I think he's right. I did love Metal Gear Online, and there are players who swear by it to this day (especially the MGS4 version, MGO2). But none of the MGO modes kept a high playercount for especially long, and even in modes like team sneaking it felt like a lot of players just wanted to play deathmatch with a bit of fancy camo.

I don't think anyone would have been surprised if Konami had turned around and said Delta was going to be singleplayer-only because, even if it did say "screw it" and remake Metal Gear Online in full, I just don't think it would make enough of an impact to remain a going concern. Something like Fox Hunt feels like it's trying to isolate what really worked in MGO in the past, and what Delta can offer in terms of "an online experience unique to Metal Gear" (Sahara's words).

Konami also talked about Delta more broadly, showing off some footage of the Ape Escape / Bomberman crossover mode, clarifying that the boss battles will feel familiar but feature updated AI and animations, and mentioning unspecified rebalancing elsewhere in the game.

The Secret Theatre also returns: this was initially an in-joke among Metal Gear staff, where they made silly alternate endings and spoof videos starring the game's characters to amuse one another during production. Never one to miss an opportunity, Hideo Kojima saw these and initially put them up on the MGS3 website, before incorporating them in MGS3: Subsistence.

Delta will feature all of the original Secret Theatre videos as in-game collectibles, as well as new videos that are carried by enemy soldiers. Presumably, as is Metal Gear tradition, you have to find these by holding soldiers up or interrogating them.

Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is getting closer: it launches on PC on August 28, 2025. My initial concern with this remake was that, even though the originalis one of the best games ever made, hewing too close to the PS2 original might make it feel tooarchaic or safe⁠—the same problem I had with the Resident Evil 4 Remake. There are Metal Gear fans getting irrationally angry about Fox Hunt, mainly because it's not Metal Gear Online, but I'm actually impressed Konami is going to try something new here, when it could have easily just stuck with remaking the campaign. I doubt Fox Hunt is going to take over the world, but as a distillation of what was so great about the MGO games, it's at least going to offer something different.