David Hayter Possibly Takes Shots At Kojima, Konami CM Assures MGS5 Will Surprise You

It's been over two years since David Hayter was replaced as Snake by Hideo Kojima. Kojima wanted a actor to deliver more believable facial expressions For Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain.

[-Foxtrot]

HA...that's pretty funny

If Hayter really isn't in this game then I'm sorry but it's a douche move from Kojima. Guy has played Snake for so long and he could have done the acting if Kojima needed him to.

[Crimzon]

What I find weird is that they replaced Hayter with someone worse, rather than someone better. All of Keifer's dialog is terrible, the guy just can't voice act at all and I have no idea at all why they hired him and wasted all that money. If they wanted a new voice actor, why not get someone better? Keifer just mumbles all his lines into some kind of verbal sludge, it's awful.

[-Foxtrot]

He has put no soul or heart into his work...least Hayter respected the role

[SolidStoner]

I doubt that anyone of you know the real truth..

I trust MGS series, voice acting and cut scenes there are in a very high level compered to other games!

Lets just wait and see.. who is who!

[Summons75]

I don't know why you have so many disagrees because it's true. 1) Kiefer has even said in interviews he never cared about video games OR even heard of Metal Gear Solid before, which means this is purely a paycheck to him. 2) Voice acting is done completely through the voice, most film actors can not voice act because they are trained to project emotion through physical actions where as a voice actor you are limited purely to your voice, all emotion needs to come from their.

Does this mean Kiefer's a bad actor, of course not but he isn't a voice actor or do well as Snake, anyone who played Ground Zeroes knows this to be true.

[Fez]

Keifer was very poor. I can't remember one line of dialogue.
Some may argue that Hayter's performance was a bit cheesy but at least it was memorable.

Could you imagine Keifer as Snake saying "A Hind-D?"... no because you'd need subtitles to understand him and you would fall asleep before he'd finished the line anyway.

Is there any other video game character with such an iconic voice as Snake? What Kojima did would be the same as Matt Groening recasting Homer Simpson.

[-Foxtrot]

"I trust MGS series"

I trusted Konami at one point but look what happened. No one is perfect

[MWH]

I agree completely. I hear sutherland's voice and I immediately see him, not Snake, his voice is too prominent it just doesn't work for me.

David Hayter is Snake and Richard Doyle is Big Boss and it worked flawlessly for years, they enjoyed it and we with them, so why change such iconic voices? if it's not broken why fix it? and in this case they actually broke what was fine!

I don't know, in my opinion this is just.. not right.

[Pennywise138]

I've always felt all the voice acting in mgs was the low point of the series. Very cheesy for a mature game about warfare. I'm currently replaying mgs3 and some of the dialogue makes me cringe. That might of been passable 10 or more years ago but video games have come so far since then that I expect to be able to take the dialogue seriously. Games like uncharted and others have set the bar too high.

[fr0sty]

I know I stand among the ultra-minority in this opinion, but I've never been a fan of Hayter's snake voice.

[silvacrest]

i wont say he cant voice act but i will say that if you have watched 24 you dont here snake, you here jack bower

[Lord_Sloth]

I don't think it's fair to say that Sutherland can't act or voice act but...He just doesn't seem emotional from what we've seen. True, Hayter has given us a much better performance so far...but we've also had his entire performances. We've only seen a piece of MGSV.

I withhold judgement.

[Gatsu]

That's weird, I don't find him mumbling that much and can easily understand what he says.

"All of Kiefer's dialogue is terrible"

How about you folks just wait for TPP, play it through and then judge Kiefer's work after hearing it all...

[cell989]

I saw enough playing Ground Zeroes to know the voice acting for Big Boss is not up to par to what Hayter used to accomplish. Sometimes I couldnt tell if it was Kaz or Big Boss speaking, he sounds so muffled and every word he said felt like he was just reading a script. So monotonous, no heart and soul :/

[TXIDarkAvenger]

VA get replaced all the time. Kojima isn't a douche for doing it if Hayter actually isn't in the game.

[trickman888]

@Penny

If you felt the VA for the MGS series was the lowpoint of the series, then you are either a hipster, or have bad taste. VA for MGS has always been great.

[Pennywise138]

Hah i just accused someone else of being a hipster on a different article. Like I said I'm currently in the middle of replaying mgs3 and listening to Eva and her sexual innuendos or every time I save and have to hear those cheesy conversations about if snake has seen attack of the martions or how snake always sounds like he's jizzing his pants when he talks I realize how far voice acting has come.

[silvacrest]

@penny, sounds like your issue is with the script rather than the voice actors

[Pennywise138]

@silvacrest
I think for the most part your right. The thing about David hayter is that I like his voice a lot but not his line delivery if that makes sense.

[Xman2K]

Funny the same people who dis MGS are the same people who get their panties in a wad over something like this. Wait til the game comes out then speak, I think we are in for a surprise, plus hayter shouldn't have been big boss, consider MGS 3 and PW a bonus, and he also wouldn't sound right playing big boss with such few lines as previously reported. In mgs4 we saw that kojima wanted the two to have different va's, so this should've been expected. This hardly seems like a shot at kojima, it seems more like hayter totally imitating keifer and even looking like a clone of keifer in the pic....hmmm... CAMOUFLAJ!!

[mastershredder]

You post a lot, but you are as green and arm chair as they come. :p

You are totally missing the logic and reasoning to these decisions. Hayter is not a traditional actor. He's a VO artist/actor. There is a HUGE difference. When you want someone good and convincing you get that person. Obviously after using Hayter all these years, SOMEONE knew his limitations eh?

[_-EDMIX-_]

.....Big Boss isn't Snake. 2 different people, they not be voiced by the same person. MGS3 should have been voiced by someone else, NOT HAYTER!

In MGS4 he is voiced by someone else as I feel it should have always been from the start...BIG BOSS ISN'T SOLID SNAKE!

Liquid sounds the way he does based on where he grew up, his voice is different because regardless of his DNA, he still had a different upbringing, how he speaks is a reflection of that.

I"m sorry but as a die hard MGS fan.....I'm happy to hear Big Boss seen as SOMEONE ELSE because HE ISN'T SOLID SNAKE!

Its one of the things in gaming where I've seen SOOOOO many journalist confuse the 2 based on either the game's crazy concept or clearly the voice being the same from 2 to 3.

I mean....have any of you actually factored that Big Boss ISN'T Solid Snake thus shouldn't actually sound like Solid Snake? They fixed it with MGS4 and 100% fine with the fix in MGSV. Big Boss needs to be conveyed as a different person.

[Batzi]

I love David but the guy needs to get over it. Kiefer seems to be doing a pretty good job based on what I heard from GZ and TPP so far.

Now if he's teasing Solid Snake, then that's a different story.

[_cyrax]

Yeah he REALLY needs to get over it. Its not like voicing snake is the last job on earth

[Fez]

@_cyrax
I honestly can't believe a gamer could say this!

One of the most iconic video game characters and voices receives a massive change which fans of the long running franchise were against and for a reason which is not good enough.

Snake is his voice. A change to such an integral part of him completely changes the character. I did at times feel like I wasn't playing Snake in Ground Zeroes.

To me, this is like redesigning Master Chief's Suit. Or shaving off Mario's moustache. Or any number of examples which should not be done to a long standing character in a continuation of the series - if this was an MGS reboot or other universe it really wouldn't be as bad but it's not.

[-Foxtrot]

Why should he get over it? He has every reason to ticked off.

Hayter isn't some big Hollywood guy like Kiefer so he relied on smaller things like voice acting to get by, then one day he got a job voicing a video game character in a game called Metal Gear Solid. The game was a huge success and many people praised him for his role.

Now since he didn't get where Kiefer is in big time Hollywood at least at the end of the day he was voicing one of most popular video game characters out there in a very respected franchise.

HOWEVER...all of a sudden after 17 years vocing this character you are dropped, just like that with apparently to Hayter, no phonecall or anything. THEN you find out you've been replaced by some big Hollywood big shot which most likely you were competing with for roles years and years ago while starting out.

I think you would be a little ticked off if this happened to you. After you finally settle on the work you have while other people like Kiefer got lucky and they end up taking your job regardless when Kiefer doesn't give a shit about the role or game at the end of the day.

[deadpoolio316]

No its been 2 years time to stop crying and move on with your life...Its not like it just happened... Although I guess if your only job is pretty much voicing a video game character you might cry when someone takes your job and your forced to look for work...But in the end 2 years is a bit long to still be crying

[FullmetalRoyale]

He needs to get over it because it isn't healthy. Of course he should have been upset, but people move on. Sounds like you could afford to let it go, too.

[-Foxtrot]

You guys would be singing a totally different tune if this happened to you.

Put yourself in some one else's shoes for once.

Or is this because Kojima f***** up by firing him and instead of admitting he made a huge mistake you'd rather put the blame on Hayter.

Imagine you got fired without a call and instead of people blaming the boss, they blamed you...how'd your feel?

[FullmetalRoyale]

"...for once."

Don't talk like you know me. I went through rough breakups, and it didn't take me two years to get over it. Snake Eater is my favorite game of all time, and I am not without sympathy for the man. I was outraged when it was revealed they replaced Hayter, for their bs reasons, and kept the original Japanese actor instead.

It's been long enough, everyone needs to get over it. You don't get to act like I am without empathy simply because we do not agree. Idk who you think you are.

[Imalwaysright]

@ -Foxtrot

1st Hayter wasn't hired to voice act Big Boss in GZ or the Phantom Pain. He wasn't fired.

2nd I can't put myself in Hayter's shoes because I don't feel that I'm entitled to get any job that I want. I may want to, but I'm not entitled to it and that's how things work in real life. Hayter needs to realize that he is not entitled to voice act Big Boss and move on.

[Joe913]

Actually Hayter is pretty big in Hollywood he wrote the first two Xmen movies and other great movies. I myself do not mind the change. Before someone claim I am not a real fan, MGS is the reason I play games and I have all the games but the voice doesn't matter I always loved the stories and gameplay could read the dang thing lol but that is me but I get what people is talking about.

[freshslicepizza]

micheal ironside no longer plays sam fisher, who cares? if the game is good the game is good but i have a suspicion this is all like the charade joquain phoenix did when he said he was going to stop acting. david hayter will likely be in it because of all the little fans who cannot think the game can be made without him just like all the little fans who could not get over devil may cry changing direction. some people need to move on but it's obvious they are way too involved and can't.

it's like the old saying, they say they want something new but really deep down they don't.

[rainslacker]

Hayter isn't lacking for work. He is actively pursuing directing and writing. he still does a lot of voice acting, but didn't do much after MGS4 until just last year...likely due to his other gigs.

Also, if he wasn't hired for the role keifer is playing, then so what? People keep praising his voice as Snake, but Keifer isn't being credited as portraying Solid Snake, but as Big Boss/Venom Snake. Please spare me all the crazy story based clone drama of how they're all the same....wait...is that right...christ I can't even keep the story straight on who's who and who did what.

Big Boss has also been voiced by Richard Doyle, but you don't see him going around complaining about it. In fact, Hayter is only credited with playing Big Boss once in Peace Walker.

I'm not a huge fan of Keifer Sutherland. He's adequete in some of his roles, and likable enough, but I never considered him an amazing actor.

But until this whole debacle started I never even knew Hayter's name, and I'd wager 99% MGS players don't know his name, and I'd also wager that those same 99% of people would not notice if they changed voice actors in every game unless they played them in succession. I mean, how many hardened gravelly voices exist within video game voice acting? Half the VA's in gaming sound like this, and while it won't win me many agrees, some of them are actually better than Hayter.

Heck, nowadays, I only know the names of maybe 3 or 4 voice actors off the top of my head, and that's because they got so much attention for their performances in games last gen. I might recognize the voices of others from time to time, but then I just think, "oh, that sounds like that so and so from that game I played".

Konami or Kojima didn't wrong Hayter in any way. They had no obligation to allow him to voice Big Boss. Hayter was payed for his work in the past, and after that, and any followup contractual work, their obligations to each other ended.

I can see why he may be upset about being replaced, but he's a professional, and he should know that's just how these things go, and the big names are brought in for marketing or talent purposes for a reason. Hayter's name wasn't going to draw anyone into the game beyond those that would already buy it, and he's a smart enough guy to just take the hit and move on.

We only know part of the story here. If Kojima wanted Hayter for the role, he would have had it. Kojima felt Sutherland was better at facial capture. Kojima was the director, and it's his game, what Hayter feels about his abilities are irrelevant.

[JamesBroski]

Well, how Kojima just "kicked" him out of the project was freaking douchey for a guy so faithful like David Hayter. He was truly passionate about his character and did a lot. He sacrificed his salary on the remake on Gamecube to get all the original voice actors back.

[WizzroSupreme]

David Hayter is the man who tells it like it is. He's got some guts, that guy.

[bouzebbal]

i can't wait for this game but preowned.. no way konami gets my money

[paddy95]

Kojima is an asshole. End of story.

[Fez]

I probably wouldn't go so far as to say he's an asshole, but it does take a pretty big ego to motion cap yourself into your own game.

I thought that was really lame on his part.
A small easter egg (even Peace Walker was pushing it) is fine but actually putting yourself in the game is so lame and draws the player right out of the game world. It definitely negatively affected my experience of Ground Zeroes.

And getting rid of the most iconic voices in video games and one of the main reason me and millions others fell in love with the MGS franchise... wait, maybe asshole is accurate.

[averagejoe26]

Weird. I thought him being in the game was truly amazing. To each his own, I guess.

[Imalwaysright]

@ averagejoe26 This is the thanks that Kojima gets for dedicating his life into making some of the best games ever and moving this industry forward. No wonder that gamers are viewed as spoiled brats.

[Fez]

I honestly didn't enjoy it. And this is coming from a die hard MGS fan. I think I played MGS2 over 10 times. And similar with the rest of the series. The games are fantastic with some of the best boss battles in gaming.

But I don't need to see the creator in their own game. He already has his name on the box and in opening and closing credits which should be enough.
It's too much to also have him in the game. This is not like Stan Lee having a 5s comedic and expected cameo in a Marvel film.

It's a mission based around Kojima and then he sticks around in the menu screen to piss you off some more. It is very egotistical no matter which way you look at it.
It also detracts from the hard work the rest of his team puts into making these games by turning it into the Kojima show.

I'm pretty sure there was some Ray Ban product placement in there as well which is so not MGS and left a massive sour taste in my mouth. Edit: apparently this is MGS actually. Or at least since 4. This along with Kojima's ego has definitely gotten progressively worse.

I don't know why criticizing these particular choices is being a spoiled brat. A bad choice is a bad choice no matter who does is.

[Imalwaysright]

There is criticizing and then there is calling Kojima (or anyone for that matter) an asshole because he made a choice you don't agree with.

[silvacrest]

motion caping yourself in your own game for me, is no different then a director playing a part in his own movie and that happens all the time

[rainslacker]

Kojima put tons of little things in the MGS games which were easter eggs and would take you out of the immersion. It's become expected and an actual staple of the franchise. It's humorous because of how out of place things like that are. It's all the little things that make MGS rise above the competition.

Kojima put everything he had into the MGS franchise on every release, even after he was ready to be done with it.

He did this for his games, to give the players something worth playing, and now he's getting criticized because he, the director, felt that someone else would do a better job.

I don't discount Hayter's dedication to the role, it has been remarkable, but at the same time, the role replaced is not the role he is known for.

Get over it already. All Hayter is doing is insuring that Konami doesn't bother to bring him back should they decide to resurrect Solid Snake. He's not a big enough name to deal with the BS, and there are plenty of VA's that can do a voice for Solid Snake and no one outside the forums would even notice.

That being said, Solid Snake's voice is not iconic. It's not used outside of trailers and the games themselves. Mario's voice is iconic. Pac-Mans chomping sound is iconic. The solid snake character itself is iconic. David's portrayal of Solid Snake is not iconic. It's respected among fans, but you put down the average gamer in front of two different MGS games, which release 4-5 years apart, and have a similar voice, and no one notices.

It's like saying that Lara Croft's voice is iconic. No one cared that the original VA wasn't used for the reboot. No one even mentioned her name. Instead, everyone was all about how pretty the new girl was, despite having the most insufferable voice that didn't match Lara's character at all.

Gamer's are a fickle bunch in what they decide is just and true.

[Fez]

I thought it was clear I was being facetious with the asshole part...
Of course I still massively respect him for the games he has created.

Again, small easter eggs are fine, maybe he could have mo-capped himself to be sitting in a port-a-loo somewhere in the game world. That would have been funny and understated.
But the way he presented himself as a VIP and used his real name to me shows ego and is not like a director playing a character in a movie but a director playing himself in a movie... and that's just strange.

I had a problem with how prominent his appearance was.

[Ristul]

http://cdn.meme.am/instance...

[-Lawless-]

I think it's funny that Kojima gave his reason for his decision long ago and yet there are others who disagree and are already judging Kiefer's performance on a game they haven't even played yet.

Solid Snake & Big Boss aren't the same people, yet people always pretend like they are. Everyone says Hayter is the voice of Snake...well he is...maybe Kojima didn't want Big Boss sounding exactly like Snake. Maybe Snake is a raspy voiced emotionless soldier who on the battlefield only relies on instincts alone, maybe he wants someone who can show more emotional range with Big Boss, because that's what he needs in order to tell his story.

Let's be honest about it, Hayter's performance as Solid Snake and Big Boss in Snake Eater are nearly identical to each other, the lines are read with the same dynamic.

People need to stop acting like Kojima took something away from Hayter because he did not. Hayter is still Solid...this game; as far as we know, just doesn't have anything to do with Solid.

[Ristul]

Snake is a clone of Big Boss, so having the same VA for the two characters would fit fine imo.

[rainslacker]

Big Boss has also been portrayed by 3 different voice actors. Hayter only did it in one game, Peace Walker.

So what exactly was taken from Hayter, and why is it important that they sound alike even if they are clones? Clones don't have to sound alike, as voices are not 100% genetic, but are products of genetics, environmental factors that change physiology, and social/educational upbringing.

[BiggerBoss]

@rainslacker umm, David Hayter also voiced Big Boss in MGS3...

[assdan]

Here's the thing. It's been two years! do you think any actor would truly be this salty for this long? I still think Hayter is in the game. There is no other reason that he still talks about it THIS much.

[rainslacker]

I wouldn't be surprised at all if Solid Snake makes an appearance. Actor's don't harp on stuff for years like this. It's not conducive to getting more jobs, because you only end up looking petty. Think about it. If you constantly complained about your last job, and your future employer knew this about you, would they want to hire you since you'd be such a negative nancy? Same rules apply to acting, and it takes box office draw to be able to land jobs if you're known to be a pain in the ass.

It would also be just like Kojima to troll the community like that, and I'm sure Hayter would go along with it for publicity sake. He's not an idiot by any means, and he knows how people get as he keeps his ear open to the community.

[assdan]

Yeah, those are my thoughts exactly. I can't think of why he would be complaining about this subject for such a long time.

[Moe-Gunz]

I said it before and I'll say it again, Big Boss should have never sounded exactly like Solid Snake in the first place. I'm glad the voice is different. The only issue I have is they should have done that a lot sooner. Hayter should always be Solid Snake, but I'm not a fan of having him be BB as well.

At the end of the day, I'm betting on Hayter still being in the game at some point.

[KryptoniteTail]

Richard Doyle should have been cast over crap Keifer Sutherland. I do get that maybe David Hayter should never have been Big Boss in the first place but we had Doyle so why Keifer now? I already know what some will say, and don't forget they did NOT replace the Japanese actor before you say something like "Keifer motion capthuuuurrrrRRRRR." I already hear Kojima blowers defending him saying Doyle is too old but that still doesn't answer why we need S*** Keifer. It was just Kojjima pretending he is in Hollywood, pathetic idiot.

TLDR Keifers s***.

[BiggerBoss]

Did Kiefer Sutherland piss in your cereal or something?

[paddy95]

Liam Neeson is the only person I would have play Big Boss. Keifer has a weak voice. Lacks power and emotion.

[Mr Tretton]

Anyone can do facial capture. Whether you do it well or not is the difference.

[Psytrix]

The guy needs to move on. Actors get recast, directors get fired. Kojima obviously wanted to go with someone else for various reasons.

[Heavenly King]

hayter will be Solidus.

[JamesBroski]

I'd really like to think that we will see Solid Snake in a remake of Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. Keifer playing Big Boss and David playing Solid Snake. It's credible since in those games, Snake and Big Boss speak to each other a lot.

I really hope this is all a big setup with David and Kojima to make us believe that it's over.

But in all honestly... I don't think so.

[BiggerBoss]

After what happened to Konami, there wont be a Metal Gear remake

[JamesBroski]

http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photo...

[gamerben]

David hayter isn't an actor, he's a voice actor. It doesn't just needed voices anymore, but a face with lots of expression too.

[bradleejones]

He is better known as a voice actor, but he has been in many movies and TV shows, also writes (x-men, x2) and directs.

[gamerben]

yeah but i still understand kojima's decision. I think Keifer's face just naturally fits more.

[IamTylerDurden1]

I know ppl love Hayter bc he is the voice of snake but he kind of is cheesy and sounds like he is putting the voice on. I welcome the change and rather enjoy having a grade a movie actor taking voice acting roles as it is more interesting to critique and analyze when it's a big star. I think Sutherland will nail the facial expressions as well, i didn't mind him in GZ.

Troy Baker is a va god though, just sayin.

[BinaryMind]

The way Hayter has responded to this change over time has been so immature and unprofessional. Kind of glad he had the role yanked from him now.

[Agent_hitman]

Well for me Keifer did a great job portraying and VA as Big Boss. Two thumbs up for me.

On the side note HAyter will always be my Solid Snake but not Big Boss, end of story.

[DarkSniper]

In Dark Sniper's humble opinion, the only thing that makes logical sense is that Solid Snake makes some kind of appearance in MGS5. Dark Sniper hopes so, because the MGS series has been saturated with too many Big Boss stories and not enough Solid Snake.

If you're going to have Snake in the game, then it makes complete sense to have two different voice actors. Reading some of the comments here make it pretty clear that these "gamers" who claim themselves to be "PlayStation" fans must be either a very young bunch or uninformed.

David Hayter IS SOLID SNAKE. Point blank, period. Anyone who has ever enjoyed the original MGS on PlayStation and beyond know this. Dark Sniper cannot compute in his mind how gaming fans cannot recognize this. He can't even believe that this is up for discussion.

Hopefully David Hayter is in MGS:V, Dark Sniper will be glad to give a standing ovation to his television set if Solid Snake shows up in the next game.

$niper

[Artemidorus]

The ideal thing to do is boycott this game but it won't happen

[CertifiedGamer]

I am glad David Hayek didn't do the facial for solid snake because then Snake wouldn't look like a chick magnet. He would have looked like a fat boy. Can you imagine if Game of thrones actors would have complained over getting killed off in the series of the show. David needs to get over himself. I don't think anyone will ever hire him again for any other games because his personality.

[Ahmay]

I miss Mei Ling's voice from mgs. she lost most of the accent in mgs5...

[SolidUSP]

Nerds....

[ThatIrishGamer]

Am I the only MGS player who hates David hayter? He's so one dimensional and boring.

He's the worst thing about Witcher 3.. . Because he acts it EXACTLY the same as he would act Snake.

Talentless. He just reads off a sheet and brings nothing to any part he plays. The same drab voice that sounds so fake and put on. Eugh.

[Gatsu]

David Hayter does not voice Geralt of Rivia in the Witcher games.