Metal Gear voice actor feels "a little ill" over casting snub

David Hayter has become almost synonymous with Metal Gear's Snake character, and he's just as unhappy about his exclusion from Metal Gear Solid 5 as you are.

In a statement released on Twitter, Hayter said he would never have voluntarily retired from his role as the voice of Solid Snake and Big Boss.

"If it were my choice, I would do this role forever. To hear anyone else’s voice coming from Snake’s battered throat, makes me a little ill, to be honest," he said.

"But the truth is it’s not my choice. Any and all casting decisions are the sole purview of Hideo Kojima, and Konami itself. And that’s fair."

Hayter said he was given no reason or explanation for the casting decision, just told that he "wouldn't be needed" for this one.

Kojima said recently that The Phantom Pain is a new kind of Metal Gear game, and he wants that change reflected in the voice actor.

Fans have been quick to point out that although Hayter voiced Big Boss and Solid Snake in all the games in which they starred, he did not voice Big Boss in his short appearance in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots - so Big Boss's increasing age may partly explain the voice change. In Japan, the same actor voices all roles and is making a return for The Phantom Pain.

Metal Gear Solid 5 will be released in two parts. Ground Zeroes is set in 1974, after the events of Peace Walker, and is the prologue to The Phantom Pain, which is set in 1983, more than ten years before the events of Metal Gear. So far, Konami has said the new games are expected on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, but demonstrations have been made on high-end PC.

Thanks, Gematsu.