Just found this quote from an interview with Kojima on why they changed the voice.

Kojima - "Regarding the change of voice with the new technologies we are now able to express emotions not only with his voice, but also with the expressiveness of the faces. The main theme this time is revenge, and so far the thrills of Snake could not match the words, but now that emotions can be expressed also with the faces we needed a real actor, not just a voice actor. For this reason we decided to use Mr. Sutherland."

Source

Still think its the wrong decision and Hayters voice made the character who he is since MGS1 in 1998.

David Hayter isn't voicing Big Boss because he's going to make a cameo of sorts in MGSV if not a later game as Solid Snake. Also, I thought the main theme was gene or... meme or something.

The real reason

Kojima fapping over having a hollywood actor.

@bigjeffrey: I also honestly think that's what is.

Anger!!

Also, is Big Boss the only character who's going through facial capture? What about all of the other characters? If Kojima really wanted to be able to better portray a more serious and emotional story, and uses that as his justification for switching BB's voice actor, then why in the Hell is Christopher ''E.EEEEE'' Randolph still in there??

Don't type "The real reason" in your thread title and then paste in some "quote" from a random website.

@flstyle: its also a video interview of him saying it himself....

It's Jack Bauer vs David Hayter in the end. Sadly, Kojima apparently really digs 24.

That is the actual reason, and that has been reported since Kiefer Sutherland was presented in the first place as the new Snake, quite a while back.

Haha did they just inadvertantly call David Haytor not a real actor? Nice.

I wouldn't count on that. Hayter has been really bitter about the whole thing so I'm pretty sure he won't be working with Kojima anytime soon. The part that worries me is not the performance in itself, Keifer is fine in the role, it's more that I foresee a lot less VO from Big Boss in the phantom pain now. No way they can get that guy in the studio for the amount of time they had Hayter for MGS4 or any other MGS game.

I would absolutely be fine with it if I wasn't a fan of 24. It just takes me out of the experience when I hear Boss speak. I immediately think "oh yea Jack Bauer". I think Jeff made a similar statement in one of the quick looks.

Jack Bauer is just a different take on this dark Snake to begin with.

I still subscribe to the "Decoy Octopus" theory.

I need to get around to playing this to see how I really feel, too many games. Next on my list when I'm done with Infamous SS.

No, every character or at least main character is entirely performance captured. They've even shown some of that process off.

@brendan: Yeah I think he did. Which is super unfair to Hayter and other voice actors out there. David Hayter put emotion across in Snake back when Snake looked like this

What video? Did his translator specifically say they needed a "real actor?"

@flstyle:

@brendan said:

.. but he's kinda not. Hayter is a writer who kind of fell into Metal Gear. It's never been his "calling" so to speak. The dude is a writer (and a good one).

I'd imagine David Hayter would find it difficult to emote while trying to make Snake noises with his mouth. Grarghrghrhg Metal Gear?

While this is the case with Quiet, it still seems a little unfair when a lot of the main characters are being played by well known voice and not physical actors (Troy Baker, Robin Atkin Downes, Tara Strong, Christopher Randolph etc.)

Besides, it's not uncommon for a voice actor to have their performance captured (Most of Uncharted 2 and 3's cast was) and while Nolan North is an accomplished voice actor, outside of some decent TV show appearances his isn't really known for his physical acting.

There's nothing unique about the voice acting in Ground Zeroes. It sounds just like every other Metal Gear game. It's not like Hayter would be outshined by fucking Christopher Randolph or by whoever plays Skull Face. He would fit right in. I think Kiefer sounds okay in the tapes, but nothing mind blowing either.

I don't buy that Snake will be in the final game though, because they would've changed the voice of Big Boss in the japanese version as well. I think he's gone for good.

I agree but he's still an okay voice actor. He was fine in SWTOR, and from what I've seen of Republique he was pretty good in that, too. He's no Troy Baker or anything, but not bad.

And again, put him next to Paul Eiding, Christopher Randolph or Quinton Flynn, he's pretty much on par. Metal Gear games always sounded like badly dubbed anime, and that was part of the charm for me. I understand why they would want to get away from that but then they should've changed all the actors and not just Hayter. This whole thing makes zero sense to me.

I still believe this and all the other stuff are just stunts to throw everyone off.

I know for a fact Troy Baker has done performance capture. He did it for Last of Us and I'd be willing to bet a number of the others you mentioned have done it at some point as well.

The show 24 was a massive success in Japan. Kiefer was always doing huge promotional events over there when the season box sets would each get released. Kiefer is a superstar in Japan.

@demoskinos: Robin Atkin Downes was in The Last of Us and he played a different character in all 4 Uncharteds. He's an amazing actor.

@demoskinos: He did it for Infamous Second Son too, to the point they made Delsin look like Troy. Same for the guy who voiced Reggie.

@oldirtybearon: You clearly haven't seen Guyver 2 The Dark Hero where David Hayter was the lead.

It's probably nano machines, it generally is.

He gave this reason when they announced the change.

@zagzagovich: Yes I have seen Guyver 2! You know what I thought of it? The first one was better.

But my point still stands. I respect Hayter's ability. Dude wrote some fantastic movies and did some good voice acting; but I don't blame Kojima for wanting to move on to a different voice for the Big Boss role. In fairness to Hayter, Kojima could've handled it better. From what has been said, nobody at KojiPro bothered to inform Hayter that while they were working on a new Metal Gear, his services would not be required. Working with someone for 15+ years and having the business relationship end like that can make anyone feel a little bitter.

After Troy Baker's facial/voice/motion capture in The Last of Us, I think we can say he is a physical actor. The point is David Hayter was never a voice actor to begin with, or a good actor. He is a writer who fell into the role of Solid Snake, and as much of a fan I am on MGS, I always found Hayter's performance to be really lacking.

@billyhoush: Wait, really? Forgive my ignorance but how was it such a huge success in Japan? What about it resonated with that audience?

I only ask because 24 is more specific to U.S. political culture and Japan is far different.

David Hayter was the voice of the lead in Silent Hill Downpour and I thought he did pretty well. His falling/freakout voice sounds way more legit than most video game voice acting.

I'm surprised that people are still so worked up over this. I mean, I consider myself a big MGS fan. I'm obsessed with it, and I think getting someone else to voice Big Boss was the right thing to do. Was Kiefer the best possible choice? Who knows! But based on his lines in Ground Zeroes, I at least think he's a good choice, and assuming he actually has a decent number of lines in Phantom Pain, I'll be more than satisfied.

Let's not forget that there is precedence for Big Boss being voiced by someone else, and for the "exact clone" of Big Boss (Solidus) having a different voice.

wait wuuuuuuuuuut

Decoy Octopus theory all the way. That's why the bandaged guy Ishmael or whatever from the Phantom Pain trailer was also voiced by Kiefer. I really feel like something strange is going on here. In Ground Zeroes Big Boss hardly talks at all. He's just silent 90% of the time.

I haven't played Ground Zeroes, but I was lead to believe from elsewhere that Skullface was Decoy Octopus. I don't really know why... is Skullface = Decoy Octopus perhaps another popular theory that's floating around? Hell, fuck it maybe Chico's decoy octopus... and Paz is blonde octo Beauty from MGS4 because why not.

I've mentioned this in the past, but one of my fears for Phantom Pain is that it'll basically be MGS4 again, only instead of wrapping up every single character arc ever, it's now showing you the origins of every single character's arc ever.

You are a crazy person for that one sentence alone. I maybe be a big Guyver fan of the anime and other such. However on basic levels of sanity that movie isnt good.

Here let me help you. These are the proper reactions a "normal" person should have to Guyver/Mutronics

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ti1YTs0IiQk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsikK5jgLJ8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0A0zlV_iqo0

I watched live action guyver as a kid. I rewatched it as an adult with these same reactions. I fucking spasmed at those flashing cuts.

As for David Hayter's acting. I refer to Guyver the anime for bad acting, I am probably an expert in loving bad voice acting due to this. As I show here. I like bad 80s dubs of anime, Manga UK doing the weirdest and best dubs.

Yet David Hayter's acting isnt as good as that clip. Fun fact Steve Blum was in that dub and he has improved greatly since.

I think a lot of the silence comes from how much Miller talks. At least during game play, it feels like Miller is always talking, but Boss is silent. In the cutscenes and audio tapes, I feel like Big Boss talks whenever it's appropriate.

And really, if he's sneaking right next to some guards, it'd be a little conspicuous to have him having a drawn out conversation with Miller.

@akyho: I don't like Anime. My experience with Guyver consisted of going into a Blockbuster (not sure if you're old enough to remember those) and seeing the VHS tape on a shelf and going "that looks interesting."

I think it's probably the bit in season 1 when the writers decided that his wife should casually and pointlessly get amnesia.

On topic, I don't think either is a very good excuse. I'll hold onto the hope he'll return as Solid, though that will be when? Another 5 years from now? Other than the voice being as iconic the bandanna, everything I've seen from Hayter over the years is that he genuinly loves the character and the games. That investment to me is more important than a 'profession actor' on their next job. Hayter has been successful as a writer and just finished his first writer/director gig. Of course he works for the money, but i'd doubt he would come back for the handheld jobs if it wasn't for some love of the character.

That's pretty much my problem with it. I just don't think Kojima realises how iconic Hayter's voice is as Snake/s here in the west.

fwiw, I think you are getting the individual games mixed up with the franchise, or something?

MGS1's theme was gene, MGS2's theme was meme, MGS3 - scene, MGS4 - sense, Peace Walker - peace.

So there's nothing stopping MGS5 from having the theme of Revenge.

Plus he donated like 3/4 of his salary or something to bring back the entire voice cast for Twin Snakes.

You didn't know? (Your ass betta caaaaaaall somebodyyyyy)

Never mind, I did some research and I'm wrong. That was only a rumor when the trailer came out. Turns out my ass better google.

I've done some more research and it's possible that he did Murphy's voice under a different name. 'David Boyd Konrad' on IMDB only has one credit, and it's as Murphy.

Old quote, we've known this for months.

If Solid Snake really does show up in MGSV that would be crazy, but the game would have to move through time pretty far... MGSV is 1984, right?... Metal Gear is 1995... Sooooo ... maybe? But he might be too young for Hayter to voice anyways. If Snake is born in 1974/5 that'd make him 20 in 84.

Er, I think you mean 10? Also, he was born in 1972 anywhoo, so he'd be 12. Regardless of Solid Snake, however, Liquid at least is all but confirmed to be in it as Eli.