"Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain" competitive multiplayer component known as the Forward Operating Base (FOB) is said to feature microtransactions. Access to the video game's competitive multiplayer mode will be restricted behind a microtransaction paywall, a report from IGN said on Monday.
"In 'The Phantom Pain,' players use various resources acquired within the game to facilitate the construction of an off-shore base, but in order to participate in the online multiplayer mode, where players attack each other's bases, they must first use real-world money to purchase MB Coins," Gamespot said.
According to the report, once players purchase MB Coins using real-world currency, they can be used to buy open water in the video game to make space for PVP bases. This was actually discovered by Gamespot during its review of the game. However, it was stressed that without online functionality, it couldn't actually determine the cost of MB Coins or fully evaluate the FOB mode.
"As no online features are testable right now, it is not currently clear if microtransactions to 'purchase water' is optional, nor how much the 'premium" currency costs,'" IGN noted. Game developer Konami has yet to issue a clarificatory statement or provide additional details about the microtransaction model.
Konami has earlier announced that "Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain" will be launched alongside "Metal Gear Online." However, it later retracted its statement and said that the competitive multiplayer mode will be available in different consoles on October 6, while the PC version will be available sometime in January 2016.
It was stressed that the Forward Operating Base PVP mode is different from "Metal Gear Online" because the latter is a more expansive multiplayer mode for the video game.
"Konami has said Metal Gear Online won't cost anything extra. Although very little is known about it, previous details have revealed it will have a class system, while characters such as Venom Snake and Ocelot will appear in it," Gamespot reported.
