Konami says MGS5’s ending isn’t missing, so everyone can calm down about it

Metal Gear Solid 5: The Definitive Experience collects all of the final Metal Gear Solid story’s content — except for one key missing piece. After detailing next month’s combo pack earlier this week, Konami has been besieged by Metal Gear fans asking why the game’s fabled “true ending,” Mission 51, isn’t included.

Konami’s response to these complaints is to the point: The Metal Gear Solid 5 saga already has an ending. Mission 51 doesn’t finish the game’s story, because Mission 51 doesn’t exist.

@Spindash54 @Konami Mission 51 is additional story content that was cancelled before development finished, but its definitely not the ending

— METAL GEAR OFFICIAL (@metalgear_en) August 30, 2016

That’s not entirely true; Mission 51 did exist for a short time. Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain ends after Mission 46, although there are four more missions beyond that. But the collector’s edition set includes the spoiler-filled footage above of a 51st event that could help wrap up the game’s ambiguous story. It’s a major story moment for Liquid Snake, Psycho Mantis and the rest of the cast, and when fans discovered what could have been, they lashed out.

Almost exactly a year after Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain launched, longtime Metal Gear lovers are still longing for Mission 51 and its promised conclusion. They pegged director Hideo Kojima’s big-budget dreams and exit from Konami as reasons for its excision. They debated as to whether the included ending was a misstep or a triumph. They theorized about how the story was really meant to conclude.

@Kaz_TheFiddler @Spindash54 @Konami all story content contains plot points. However 51 was additional, initial release planned to end at 50

— METAL GEAR OFFICIAL (@metalgear_en) August 30, 2016

Most of all, they complained. Instead of ignoring players’ complaints, however, Konami has addressed many of them on head-on. The publisher replied to angry tweets directed at The Definitive Experience, clarifying that Mission 51 did not survive the early game development, let alone include Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain’s true final moments.

@Kaz_TheFiddler @Spindash54 @Konami the ending is found in the missions within. Many threads continue in Metal Gear and subsequent games

— METAL GEAR OFFICIAL (@metalgear_en) August 30, 2016

To see those, Konami clarified, players will just have to beat the game. They’ll get another chance to do so on Oct. 11, when both The Phantom Pain and its prologue, Ground Zeroes, are collected on one disc. The Definitive Experience is coming to PlayStation 4, Windows PC and Xbox One.