Fan favourite voice actor, David Hayter, won’t be reprising his role as the voice of Snake in the upcoming Metal Gear Solid V. That’s the official word from Hideo Kojima himself, who told Gametrailers, “What we’re trying to accomplish here is [to] recreate the Metal Gear series. It’s a new type of Metal Gear game and we want to have this reflected in the voice actor as well.”

Controversial stuff from the maestro, especially given that he was lucky to get away with sneakily ditching Snake for Raiden in Metal Gear solid 2 which many fans still feel sore about.

Hayter has confirmed via Twitter that he won’t be returning and that he wasn’t even approached for the role. That’ll teach him to submit a script for a MGS movie.

Kojima isn’t letting us know who Hayter’s replacement for the role is yet, “I can’t say that yes, it will be a new person. I just can’t say who just yet.” We’re taking this sad news with a pinch of salt after the recent shenanigans of Kojima trolling us all with the initial Phantom Pain reveal. We’re expecting him to announce the Raiden voice actor in the lead role before eventually giving in and telling us Hayter will of course return.

The Dealspwn team talk about the Hayter ejection from the series in the latest Game Buzz episode. Click here to listen in.