By comparison, September is relatively clear. But the heaviest hitters of the fall like Fallout 4, Black Ops 3, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Halo 5, and AC: Syndicate aren’t coming until October and November. FIFA is September 22 nd, and though I don’t have much faith in its potential sales, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 is out September 29 th. Destiny’s Taken King expansion debuts September 15 th along with Forza 6 on Xbox and NHL ’16. The rest of September is sort of full, sort of not. Out of the two games, if anyone would move their debut date, it would be Mad Max.

Still, with MGS’s history and the fact that it’s also available on last-gen consoles, I doubt Mad Max will outsell it when all is said and done. This is something that anyone will be able to jump into and play, and with what appears to be relatively simplistic combat mechanics that feel as familiar as an Arkham game, if the quality is good, it could easily be more appealing to many than Metal Gear Solid. Collecting car parts and weapons to dominate a wasteland infested with tribal gangs. Mad Max on the other hand is a game that everyone will approach on equal footing, and has a much more simplistic concept. Even if gameplay is solid, trying to comprehend the characters, story and universe may be a bridge too far for new players. New players may be afraid to try and jump into MGS5 without playing the previous games, and since Konami hasn’t come out with a timely remaster or re-release, that isn’t easy. Kojima’s world is so incredibly complicated even reading a hundred pages of a wiki is unlikely to clear many aspects of it up.

While it’s easy to jump into a new Halo or Call of Duty while knowing little about the franchise, and it’s even possible to do for something like The Witcher 3, Metal Gear Solid is a different animal. First, while Metal Gear Solid is a big-name franchise, it’s also one of the more inaccessible series out there, unless you’ve been following it for years.

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