So here we are, just settling into the spangly new year of 2018. The video game industry’s getting into the swing of things too, already dropping some big name releases like Dissidia Final Fantasy NT and Monster Hunter World. It’s just two short weeks until the similarly-hyped Metal Gear Survive drops; the last big push.

With that in mind, have Konami just resurrected Metal Gear Solid V: Phantom Pain with a bizarre PR stunt to hawk Survive? That could well be the case.

Here’s the deal. As Phantom Pain’s many fans will attest, the game features the ability to build your own expansive base. From there, you can craft and micromanage all sorts of things, including some fancy weapons tech. At the crux of all of this, you𒅌 can develop yo෴ur own nuclear weapons, which is… well, it’s a frightening prospect for other players.

As discovered in September 2015, the game has a secret ending with a nearly impossible caveat: every player needs𝐆 to decommission all their nukes. That’s right,꧑ not a single one can be in anybody’s possession. Now, amid all of the Mother Base raids, you have to option to steal the nuclear weapons of other players. Groups of players all around the world have dedicated themselves to doing just that, but it still seemed like a lost cause.

Needless𝓡 to say, many of the players on the Steam version still had nukes, and everybody was mystified as to how this came about. The official word from acknowledged that the event (which sees Big Boss and co discussing the fact that they must still be vigilant; the last nuke has been decommissioned but the technology still remains) triggered for unknown reasons and stated that they were investigating how this happened.

It’s all very odd. The question on every world-weary cynic’s lips, then: was this truly a mistake? An odd glitch? It seems that way, but maybe there’s a dastardly conspiracy at work here. Could this all have been planned, as a means to generate fresh buzz around the series in time for Metal Gear Survive to drop? Nobody knows for sure, but Survive does have close links with Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain, being set between the events of the two.

As reports, as well, it’s not the first time that the nuclear disarmament ending has been leaked. Still, all🎃 gam🦩ers know that servers can get themselves into a sorry state at times, so a major blip like this isn’t out of the realms of possibility at all.