There's Already a Petition to bring Hayter back to The Phantom Pain

It's been only a little over twelve hours since we got our first proper look at Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, and less since we discovered the voice of Solid Snake and Big Boss, David Hayter, would not be reprising his role. It's odd - especially since the Japanese Snake actor is confirmed to be returning - and it's made people angry. Some even feel dedicated enough to petition Kojima and Konami in the hopes of changing their minds.

[jaredhart]

The only person I'd take as a sub for David Hayter is Kurt Russell.

But I still want Hayter back.

[matgrowcott]

Kojima does absolutely everything for a reason. I don't believe Hayter has been dropped because Boss is getting old or anything like that, I think there's something to it.

Until we find that out though, it's hard not to see this as anything but a bad move on Konami's part.

[Hellsvacancy]

Maybe theyll use his voice in flashbacks or summin

[Root]

See I thought that but it doesn't make sense when the Japanese voice actor that voiced young Big Boss is voicing him still.

[matgrowcott]

@Root

Akio Ōtsuka has a better range than Hayter. I think it would be hard to listen to any Hayter voiced character in the MGS world and not think of Snake, whereas Ōtsuka has the experience to do something completely different (at a guess).

There's also the fact that Old Big Boss was played by Ōtsuka's dad in the Japanese MGS4. I know I said I didn't think it was a "boss is old thing," but the difference between Hayter and Richard Doyle is probably far greater than between Ōtsuka and his father.

[Eamon]

@matgrocott

If you've watched a lot of anime like I have where I've heard Akio Otsuka do a number of different impressions, his voice is easily one that you can make out. It's because his voice is unique. You can instantly tell it's him.

Also, in Ground Zeroes trailer, he didn't change his voice, it was the usual Japanese Snake voice he does.

[morganfell]

Richard Doyle is the guy to voice Big Boss and it's time they move to him. Besides it will be needed later when Solid works for Big Boss. Just as in MGS4 it's time to make that distinction.

On a related note, Hayter whining on the internet two weeks ago hinting this would soon come to public knowledge should be beneath him.

[Bathyj]

Maybe its story related.

Did Snake suffer an injury that affected his larynx?

[Mainman]

I'm not gonna sign it, from what I heard from the latest trailer, Snake's voice sounded really awesome.

I like David Hayter as much as the next guy, don't get me wrong, but this new guy sounded really fitting to be Snake as well.

Besides, I heard David Hayter was directing a movie, so I'm not sure if he got the time to voice act for MGSV.

[zerocrossing]

The only logical reason I can see for the voice actor change is that Big Boss and Snake will probably meet sometime in MGS5, if not then it's kind of stupid not to give the role of Big Boss to Hayter...

[Ducky]

Given the timeline, if Snake and BigBoss do meet in MGSV, then Snake would be in his teenage years.

It would make better sense to use a different voice actor for Snake in that kind of encounter.

[porkChop]

Snake would only be 11 at the time of The Phantom Pain.

[JC_Denton]

You people are the reasons why shows like The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones become shitty. You need to learn how to move on. There is no reason for anyone to be upset about this change in voice actors, other than because they are idiots.

[GrandTheftZamboni]

Bobcat Goldthwait FTW!

[RTheRebel]

Michael Ironside AKA Sam Fisher? Iol
Kurt is a great choice though

[DoomeDx]

Damn ! Never realised that David Hayter looks like the Governer from The Walking Dead haha

[Acquiescence]

Accept no substitute. And that's coming from someone who isn't even a MGS fan.

[Tomonobu Itagaki]

Good, because The Phantom Pain isn't about Solid Snake but about Big Boss, so...

[Eamon]

Big Boss has been voiced by Hayter in MGS3, PO and PW.

[Tomonobu Itagaki]

But not in MGS4. It's probably time to turn the page.

[blackstrr411]

Is solid snake in MgsV

[TheModernKamikaze]

No

[blackstrr411]

The only reason hayter voiced big boss was cos solid is big boss's clone, so at that time/age bracket they'd have the same voice(hypothetically)

[TotalHitman]

"And that's coming from someone who isn't even a MGS fan."

You've made that evident.

We're talking about Hayter/Big Boss.

[NastyLeftHook0]

exactly, that voice cannot be replicated.

[Enigma_2099]

... then come up with a NEW protagonist! And stop making him look like Solid Snake, blast it!!!

Are you people actually going to sit there and tell me you won't even TOUCH a Metal Gear Solid game if Solid Snake or some lookalike isn't in it? It's not enough that Kojima came back to do another one to apease everyone that constantly complained about him wanting to do something else?

[DigitalSmoke]

Well I'm not so sure anymore guys, he started to put the accent on a bit to thick lately, imo.

[theDECAY]

I agree.

[Dazel]

There's only one Solid Snake, only one David Haytor imo.

[Lionalliance]

But this is Big Boss..

[WitWolfy]

Are you retarted? Big Bos = Solid Snake they are the same person!!!

[xXBlondieVanHarlowXx]

@WitWolfy

I cannot possibly facepalm hard enough at the ridiculous statement you just said. I think having Liquid Ocelot slap me square in the face with his metallic looking arm would not be enough facepalm to express your fail....

With that said, no Big Boss [John] isn't Solid Snake [David].

[wenaldy]

@witwolfy

Surely u cant be serious

[BlaqMagiq24]

@WitWolfy

You just made the most idiotic comment on this article yet you call someone else retarded. I have to ask have you even played the MGS games?

[PSVita]

@witwolfy: Naked snakeB=ig Boss and his three clones are soild, soildus and liquid. So same DNA but different people completely.

[profgerbik]

Sad when a developer can't even explore his own artistic view, kind of catch 22. Make a great game to gain more freedom, only to be held down by your own fans expecting you to keep everything the same. Simply because fans are so spoiled now a days they whine about anything that isn't how they expect or want it to be.

Kind of ridiculous. This crap is happening with way too many games lately, fans throwing a little temper tantrum over anything..

[PSVita]

I see your point but things like a voice actor bring life to a game. You become familiar with it and its a pain to have to try and reimagine this character. People should wait and see why he decided to replace him for these two games.

[cr33ping_death]

for the sake of Big Boss getting older i understand why he would need a Richard Doyle touch... he did it for MGS 4 ( is he doing it for MGS5?) anyway would be awesome if in some future game you control Big Boss leading up to the events of meeting and fighting Solid Snake :)seeing everything from Boss' point of view. they could give Hayter another crack at Snake then

[xXBlondieVanHarlowXx]

But doesn't this game take place 9 years after Peace Walker? Hayter voiced Big Boss in PW, wouldn't it be weird that his voice changed that much in only 9 years? o_o

[cr33ping_death]

Yeah... I can see how that would be odd.

[profgerbik]

It is like listening to music, do you seriously expect a favorite musician of yours to make the same songs for the rest of their life, only the songs you like?

[LeBart]

That not really a good analogy. If Kojima wants to make "new songs", he just needs to stop making Metal Gear games, which would be fine by me. Snake is more of a player in the Metal Gear band if you will.

Changing his voice is like asking Miles Davis to play the bagpipe.

[PSVita]

That was a bad analogy.

[Heavenly King]

In the MGSV demo Kojima did, Big Boss sounded like David Hayter, weird.

[strigoi814]

solid snake is not in Phantom Pain..why bother

[hazelamy]

what about Naked Snake?
also voiced by Hayter, in MGS3 if you were unaware.
is there a third snake nobody knows about?

yeah, i know about Liquid, but that didn't look like him.

[Lionalliance]

Well, 9 years have passed, his voice would have change by that time.

[Tito08]

Yeah, there was a 3rd Snake, George Sears a.k.a. Solidus Snake, but only wore an eye patch on his left eye in MGS2. But is still centered around Big Boss. But we will for sure see one of the sons of Big Boss, since they are already born by then.

[listenkids]

I would love Hayter to return, and also had conversations rregarding a transition from 70s Boss, to Richard Doyle, but I would like it to be subtle, a similar tone to the voice we love.

The voice we heard yesterday was timid and soft,too different from Hayter and Doyle.

Thays my only issue at the moment.

[-Gespenst-]

Probably too late. They've clearly already got an actor for Big Boss. Unless Snake shows up in the game there's not much point to this.

[Sandmano]

Signed

[koehler83]

I don't buy for a second that Hayter won't be Snake in MGS5.

[Edito]

I think the man who helps the boss at the hospital is Solid Snake with David voice, why Kojima is dressed with his custom??? The bandages and stuff??? and that character didn't say a thing deep in my heart i know its Solid Snake...

[porkChop]

What are you talking about? He didn't say a thing? He was talking throughout the whole demo and he is clearly voiced by Kiefer Sutherland. That's not Solid Snake, and Solid Snake would only be 11 at the time of The Phantom Pain.

[raWfodog]

That character is Ishmael, voiced by Keifer Sutherland.

[Darrius Cole]

I'm gonna trust Kojima. He hasn't missed with Metal Gear Solid yet.

Well, aside from that whole, "play Metal Gear Solid 2 with Raiden instead of Snake" thing.

[DownNotOut]

people are still whining about that? wow

[Tito08]

Yeah man, when I first bought MGS2, I kind of expected a new playable character, but never thought it was for the majority of the game, but I quickly grew out of it, and it was a great new experience because I like the character and played the game in a rookie's point of view, people still whine about it til this day, just as people were begging for a Cyborg Ninja Raiden game after his reveal in MGS4, Kojima spoiled them with Rising, then they started saying how "Raiden sucks", there's no Snake, it's made by Platinum games and I'm glad Rising shut these people's mouth, and turned out successful. Hell, love this new Raiden even more, has that anti-hero vibe in him, no wonder he's often referred as Jack The Ripper. :)

[jagstar44]

wont they have already started recording the voices anyway? it's a bit late to bring him back

[Crazay]

Give me a break guys. DO you honestly think bringing in a petition to bring a voice actor back into the fold of a game that is no doubt so far along in development is going to make any difference? Even if you get a million signatures, the chances of them delaying a game simply to bring in a new voice actor is highly unlikely.

Sure it's a bit of a bummer that Hayter isn't coming back but move along. Kojima probably had his reasons. This is going to do nothing.

[solidboss]

I Proudly signed this petition. David hayter helped out the character of snake become popular just as Snake helped Hayter. I think we should def. bring this knowledge to the twitter accounts of konami and Kojima and urge them to #MAKE IT RIGHT.

[Donnywho]

I have reserved faith hoping that it's a joke or there's a good explanation but I hate this. I see a link below that says Keifer Sutherland might voice Big Boss... Are you smuckin kidding me? God I hope so. I think I'm going to need an option to have Japanese speech with English subtitles. That's the only way this could work for me without Hayter.

[raWfodog]

Keifer Sutherland is voicing Ishmail, the character who is helping Big Boss in the hospital.

[Donnywho]

Lol you mean Kaz? That would be cool.

[Aberdasher]

Some of you say Solid Snake is not in the game, which is likely the case.

Others have said that by this time, Snake would be 11.

Now what if that child in the reveal trailer is actually Kid Snake?

[e-p-ayeaH]

Apparently that´s Chico the little kid from Peace Walker because that´s still in the 70´s and Solid Snake was born years later probably around 1980.

[e-p-ayeaH]

Aside from the retarded comments criticizing David Hayter´s talent i agree that he should be in this game voicing Jack aka big boss.

[Welcome2Die]

The game does not need David Hayter back yet... This game is a prequel and soon the game will catch up to where Solid Snake is around and who will voice him? These people need to just let Kojima do what he knows he is doing and have some faith....

[FAT MAN GO BOOM]

Come on people he has been in a lot of them... time to change it up....

[JeepGamer]

A petition? Really?

This would make perfect sense if he wanted to do it and they weren't allowing it.

Since that's not the case, you're being ridiculous. He's not obligated to play Snake forever just to make MGS fans happy.

Get over it. Kojima has wanted to stop making MGS games for years but he's been forced to keep at it. Quit trying to chain Hayter to that same problem.

[MrBeatdown]

While they're add it, they should get a petition started to have KojimaPro make the game, instead of Moby Dick Studios.

[Tito08]

Moby Dick Studios is Kojima Productions, he was fooling people all this time, so... -______-

[MrBeatdown]

Which is exactly why believing anything else Kojima says is dumb.

[urwifeminder]

Lol never heard of him doesnt bother me.

[Dir_en_grey]

Maybe Hayter is a hard person to work with or not good enough for whatever task Kojima wants from him.

If you put yourselves in Konami's shoes there is no good reason to replace Hayter unless there IS a good reason.
They didn't replace the Japanese voice actor but replaced Hayter, so the problem obviously lies with Hayter.

Maybe Hayter talks too much, he did want to write the script for the Metal Gear movie and star in the Movie. It could be he is just too money hungry and acting like they would hire him no matter what.

He tweets about not being approached by Konami for MGSV but how about showing some professionalism and keep quiet either way?

I trust Kojima's decisions, Kojima is the one that created the character and this whole metal gear universe, and made Hayter who he is today.

Who knows, it might all be an April fools joke.

But I side with Kojima as he is the creator and he can do whatever he wants with MGS.

[texaswolfsrain]

It's almost April fools day guys...