MGS 5's FOB "fully accessible at launch", purchases are an "accelerator" says Konami
A Konami representative has spoken to GamesRadar to further clarify recent reports of pay walls and in-game purchases surrounding MGS 5's FOB base, an optional online part of the game's Mother Base.
TL;DR - FOB bases can speed up certain parts of Mother Base's running but can also be raided by other players online, adding an additional multiplayer component to the game. Certain reviews noted that 'MB coins' where used to unlock this, an in-game currency that you can buy with real money.
We've already posted this tweet from senior Konami producer Ken-ichiro Imaizumi stating that MGS 5's in-game purchases can be earned by playing and without spending cash. In addition to that we reached out to Konami and a representative has told us the following:
"[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. Please see below link, the details are specified in the first minute of the demo."
Our source also pointed us to the E3 video below, where co-producer Sean Eyestone states, "every single item, weapon and mission in the game is available to all players without paying a single cent. There's no pay to win,” mirroring what Ken-ichiro had tweeted earlier.
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I'm GamesRadar's Managing Editor for guides, which means I run GamesRadar's guides and tips content. I also write reviews, previews and features, largely about horror, action adventure, FPS and open world games. I previously worked on Kotaku, and the Official PlayStation Magazine and website.